


Rising Heroes

by ArtemiStorm



Series: Neopolis Canon Arc 1: Origins [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Origin Story, Alternate Universe, Angst, Antoine is really trying, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mobius is Earth in 10K years, Self-Discovery, Tails needs all the hugs, Tails parents now you see them now you don't, Teenage Rebellion, Trauma, everyone gets hurt, fighting evil robots, seeking destiny, someone is dead for like twelve seconds
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 44,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22314223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtemiStorm/pseuds/ArtemiStorm
Summary: Princess Sally Acorn had been so sure! Isn’t this what she was called to do? Isn’t this why she was born?She had stopped hiding, stopped playing it safe, took a stand, and joined the fight against evil Dr. Eggman. But now? The forest was on fire; people were injured, missing, and maybe even dead. Even her best friend, Bunnie had been partially roboticized.If this is what Sally was born to do, why was it turning out so wrong?
Relationships: Sally Acorn/Sonic the Hedgehog
Series: Neopolis Canon Arc 1: Origins [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1813618
Kudos: 17





	1. Fox Fall

**Author's Note:**

> My AU:
> 
> Ten years ago, the world lost the war against Robotnik and his son, Eggman. Survivors from the old Acorn Kingdom as well as refugees from around the world fled by portal to an isolated safe haven, called the Hidden Valley, surrounded on three sides by the impassible Snaggletooth Mountains and on the fourth side by the sea. They lived in peace and solitude for ten years, occupying the ruins of an ancient city and the surrounding countryside. 
> 
> Only three outsiders have ever arrived since the last portal closed ten years ago. An exiled inventor, Rotor Walrus appeared on their shores a year ago. Six months ago, Princess Sally shot down an airplane flown by arrogant speedster Sonic the Hedgehog. One month ago, a fox patrol found Antoine D'Coolette, the cowardly Francian soldier half-dead in the mountains. All three outsiders were welcomed and chose to stay in the valley.
> 
> In the last ten years, Eggman's unchallenged reach has grown vastly. Even the most remote corners of the globe are now coming under his scrutiny as seeks to conquer it all with robots, pollution, slavery, and despair. Princess Sally, Sonic, Rotor, and Antoine have all felt the call to action against Eggman in their hearts and now struggle to find their way forward to achieve their goal of stopping Eggman and saving the world.

“Oh look, the glider flies too high for the two-tailed twerp to reach,” Cody Rosso taunted, tossing the glider over Miles to his twin brother.

“Let’s see how many Miles Prower this puny glider can fly… into the ground!” Felix chucked the toy as hard as he could.

“Kerrrash!” Shouted Cody as it dashed against the roots of a tree and broke apart.

“Got any more freaky flyers we can smash?” Felix asked.

“Grown-up alert!” Cody pointed at an approaching fox patrolman. “Quick! Run away!” 

“Don’t worry, little cousin, we’ll be back!” Felix said. The two boys scampered off into the woods, laughing. Miles looked up at his father, a member of the Valley Rim Fox Guard, Amadeus Prower. Amadeus saw the broken pieces of the glider in his son’s hands.

“Are those Rosso kits antagonizing you again?”

“Yeah. They’re always teasing me because I have two tails and because I like to build stuff.”

“You know, they do it because they’re jealous of you. You were given gifts that they weren’t, an extra tail, talent and aptitude for building…”

“They don’t seem like gifts. They only cause me trouble.”

“Maybe they do now, but I think that someday they’ll be really good and useful to you. You know, Uncle Rusty says that you’re special and you have an extraordinary destiny.”

“Really?”

“Sure! And I think so too. Whatever you choose to do Miles, you’re going to be great!”

“I sure hope so.”

“Hey! I’ve got a thing to show you that’ll cheer you up! Come and follow me.” Miles followed his father curiously outside the garden walls of the lodge to a stately sycamore tree. Amadeus pointed up. Twenty feet up among the thick and spreading branches was an odd wooden platform. 

“What is it?” Asked Miles.

“Let’s go see! I’ll show you the secret way to climb up. I have tapped these pegs into the trunk to help you climb.” Amadeus started stepping from peg to knot to branch to peg all the way up to the platform. Miles followed him up into the small wooden room.

“I know that you like to go off on your own and build and that you might like an escape from the other kits, so I built you your very own treehouse!”

“Wow! Thanks, Dad! You’re the best!”

“Anytime, son. I love you.”

“I love you too, Dad.”

“Now I’ve got to be heading out. I’m on night patrol.”

“Okay. Bye Dad!”

***

Over the following days, Miles learned to scurry up the tree so fast that none of the other kits could figure out how to follow him and so he was left in relative peace to do as he pleased. He built many things, such as gliders, catapults, a small boat, a little car, and his personal favorite, a slingshot, which he used to fire the sycamore’s spiky seed balls down at the Rosso boys. He spent most of his free time up in the treehouse.

It had been a long hot day in the middle of summer. In the late afternoon, Miles, sluggish and sleepy from the heat, lay on the floor of the treehouse sketching half-hearted ideas for a mechanical candy dispenser. An odd smell wafted in through the windows. At first, Miles ignored it, but the smell grew stronger. It smelled like something burning, but not like wood fires, more like things burning that weren’t supposed to be, like the time the Rosso boys accidentally set fire to the kitchen window curtains. With great effort, Miles rolled over and sat up. He leaned heavily over the windowsill and gazed out toward the lodge.

Uncle Dusty, Aunt Tuya, and Uncle Avalanche were conversing placidly in the courtyard as little Ember and Linnea tussled in the dust at their feet. The Rosso boys were nowhere to be seen. Nothing was on fire. Nothing seemed amiss. 

“Mama knows where I am, she’ll come get me if there’s trouble,” Miles thought and returned to his drawing.

Whoosh. Thump. Thump. 

Miles’ sensitive fox ears picked a faint and distant noise. It sounded unnatural, metallic… mechanical even. He sat up again and crawled to back to the window. The smell was getting stronger still. He wrinkled his nose and covered it with one of his two tails.

Whoosh. Thump. Thump. Whatever was making the noise, it seemed to be getting closer. Miles watched as distant trees up the hillsides shook. There was a flash of something reflective moving in the trees. A white blast of light corresponded with a booming noise like thunder and a distant tree burst into flames. Even from a quarter of a mile away, Miles felt the heat on his face.

“Fire!” He shouted toward the lodge. Uncle Dusty and the others looked up at him. Miles pointed to the rising cloud of smoke. “Something set a tree on fire! Up the hill! Look!” 

“I see it, Miles, now come back to the lodge,” Uncle Dusty said motioning. Miles gave him a thumbs up. The treehouse wasn’t waterproof, so if it were going to rain, Miles would need to collect all of his papers and toys to bring them inside. He spread out his blanket and began piling his things in the middle.

“It could be lightning from an oncoming thunderstorm,” Uncle Avalanche said. “It has been very hot and humid today.”

“The weather comes from the sea, not from the mountains,” Aunt Tuya argued. “No thunderstorm has ever come to us from the north.” Little Linnea started crying and ran to Ember for a hug.

A sudden thrashing sound in a tree nearby and a flash of silver in the corner of Miles’ eye caught his attention. A chrome tube, visible through the foliage, seemed to point at massive beech tree that stood not far uphill from the edge of the clearing. Like a cannon, it fired a brilliant bolt of lightning at the trunk engulfing the entire tree in a spidery web of white-hot flames. A thunderous explosion resounded throughout the foothills and reverberated through the very bones of all who heard it. Miles gasped clutching his chest and leaped back from the window. Overwhelmed by instinctual fear, he forgot his toys and papers and frantically crawled out of the bottom hatch. He reached his feet for the first peg, but the shaking earth caused the tree to shiver and his feet slipped past the peg. He almost lost his grip and fell out of the treehouse completely, but managed to scramble back up. His heart pounding, he cautiously peeked out of the window.

A twenty-foot tall metal man stepped out of the forest. Instead of a face it had one large single lens, like an evil eye. Two large rings gyrated in the center of its chest whirring and snapping with electricity. Its arms were fused in front of it into a single cannon. With jerky rhythmic movement, the cannon arm separated into two limbs each becoming an odd cylindrical housing with a simple metal stud protruding from the end. The heavy feet sank four inches in the damp soil. The steel giant stood between Miles and the lodge, blocking his escape. He was trapped in the treehouse. 

Everyone in the lodge came out into the courtyard. The Fox Patrols came sprinting back to the clearing from their patrol routes in the forest. Of all the foxes who lived at the lodge, only Miles wasn’t there. The boy waved from the window hoping one of the congregating foxes would see him and come to his rescue, but they were preoccupied.

“Tuya, go send a message to King Acorn!” Their leader, Captain Niko commanded Aunt Tuya.

“Let him know that the robot generates an electrical charge with that rotating chest piece and shocks the trees into flames,” Uncle Dusty added.

“Get the kits to the caves,” Uncle Altan told the kits’ teacher, Uncle Avalanche. 

“I’ll help!” Aunt Jetta, one of the patrol foxes volunteered. 

“Come, kits, follow me!” Uncle Avalanche urged as he shepherded the children toward the north gate. “Wait, I’m missing one.”

“Miles? Where’s Miles?” Asked Miles’ mother, Rosemary.

“He’s—” Uncle Dusty began, pointing.

“Look! Another one!” Miles’ older cousin Briar squealed.

On opposite sides of the clearing, two more massive robots stepped into the clearing. Miles ducked. Had one seen him? Even though the heat was stifling, he hid under the blanket and trembled, listening to what went on below.

“They’re blocking the north and south gates!” Uncle Altan exclaimed.

“We’re trapped!” Aunt Cheyenne, the Rosso boys’ mother cried.

“Get in a circle!” Miles’ dad ordered. “Fox Patrol, form up around them!”

“Dad!” One of the Rosso boys said. Miles couldn’t tell which by their voice.

“Stay back, son!”

“Miles! If you can hear me! Stay where you are!” Miles’ dad shouted. Miles didn’t answer, but gave him a thumbs up underneath the blanket.

“Dusty! They’re machines!” Captain Niko exclaimed. “What can you can do?”

“I—”

KRRRAAAAK! KATHOOOOM! Light flashed into the treehouse. Several foxes screamed and yipped. Miles pulled the blanket over his head covering his ears and trying to muffle the sound. A burning tree adjacent to the courtyard crackled and roared with flame.

“Watch out! It’s spreading to the n—” Uncle Avalanche started.

Thump thump whoosh. KAABOOOM! Another flash, this one pinkish, lit up the treehouse. The sycamore vibrated and the leaves of the canopy made a shushing sound. 

“Attack the joints and wiring of the legs! Try to take it down!” Uncle Niko shouted. “Fire!” 

Clang! Ting ting ting! Clang clang! 

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. More steps. The robots were walking around.

“There’s a third robot!” Someone shouted. Miles couldn’t tell who. 

KRRAA—KAAAASH! A bluish light flashed. Miles saw it even through the blanket. He closed his eyes. The foxes yipped and barked and screamed. The robots clanged and stomped and zapped. The forest crackled. Each exploding tree resounded through the forest and the mountains. Finally the roaring of the fires overtook all other sounds in a crescendoing din. 

Miles’ back felt suddenly hot and he poked his head out from under the blanket. Burning cinders had landed on his back and caught the blanket on fire. Miles threw it off of him and out the window, coughing on the thick smokey air. Outside, the orangey-brown daylight was illuminated by a blood-red sun. Below him, the lodge and many of the trees surrounding the courtyard burned red and yellow. One of the robots lay face-down and unmoving. The other foxes were nowhere to be seen. Hopefully they had escaped north to the caves or south to the city of Neopolis.

A hot gust of wind blasted through the windows and whipped up all of his papers in a small whirlwind. Miles watched, his eyes burning, as they fluttered out of the windows and the hatch, making no move to stop them. He buried his face in his tails to try and filter out the smoke. His sycamore stood near the middle of the courtyard and so far, had avoided catching fire.

The treehouse suddenly darkened. Miles peeked out from his tails toward the window. The entire window was taken up by a large glowing red circle. It was the lens, the eye of one of the metal men. Miles looked at it with horror and it looked straight back at Miles. He grabbed his slingshot from the floor next to him and a spiky seed ball from the box near the hatch. With shaking hands, he fired it at the huge, red eye. The seed ball bounced harmlessly off the glass. It stared at him for a moment longer then took a step back. Miles froze as it electrified its appendages. He knew what was coming next. 

The robot reached out slowly with it’s two terminal arms zapping. Miles backed away from the trunk of the tree against the outer wall of the treehouse. He looked out the window at the twenty-foot drop. Below, the once-grassy courtyard now flashed with yellow flames. There was no escape.

The robot’s terminals touched the trunk. Instantly, the tree lit up in blue ribbons of electricity. The trunk fractured as steam exploded out and fire raced through the center of the tree to the canopy which burst into flames. The weakened trunk collapsed. Slowly, the tree tilted sideways and swept downward falling to the ground like a magnificent flaming paintbrush, taking the treehouse and Miles with it.


	2. Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic searches the ruins of the Fox Lodge for survivors.

Seven miles south, Sonic the Hedgehog snoozed on the roof of Rotor’s workshop. The air rapidly cooled and woke him. The sky above him had changed from a brilliant crystalline blue to an ugly brown. An acrid smell assaulted his senses and he sat up. The dark, heavy cloud came from the north where a column of smoke rose from the faint red glow of a fire in the foothills.

“Sonic! You awake?” Sally yelled from the ground. Sonic popped his head over the edge. “There’s a wildfire up north. The militia is calling for people to come help protect the villages.” 

“Yeah, Sal, I see where it is. In the foothills of the northern mountains. Hey isn’t that where—”

“Yes, the foxes’ lodge. No one can get a hold of them. They aren’t answering their radio.” 

“Oh man! That’s not good! Wait! What is that?” A blaze of light like a rocket shot upward into the sky. 

“Is that a…?” Sally gasped.

“That looks like a missile!” Sonic cried.

“But it is moving away from us, northward over the mountains! I’d better go tell my dad!” Sally said.

“I’m headed north!” Sonic leaped off the rooftop and raced toward the trouble. 

On his way north, Sonic had stopped by his hut to grab his trusty brown scarf. He wrapped it around his mouth and nose to shield him from the smoke. He was surprised by how far south beyond the actual fire the smoke cloud reached. The air turned orange and a pale grey snowfall of ash dusted everything. The ash kicked up behind him in tiny vortexes as he ran. The temperature increased and the wind was gusty and erratic. In only a minute or two Sonic neared the fire. He circled it, scouting out the size. It was less than a mile in diameter, but it seemed to center where the Fox Lodge should be. Had the fire started there? Maybe as an out-of-control cooking fire? 

Sonic found an entrance into the circle through a gap in the fire line on the northern edge, where no trees stood on the rocky foot of the mountains. He slowed and passed carefully through burned-out parts of the forest. 

The ground was black and crispy. The trees were scorched, many of them dead. The sun was dimmed into a sinister twilight. Large black cinders and flakes of ash rained over the hellscape. Sonic was worried. Really worried. How could the foxes have survived this?

Moments later, Sonic arrived in the scorched wreckage of the Fox Lodge. The lodge was no more than smoldering pile of blackened rubble. Burnt-out shells of trees and splintered logs littered the edges of the clearing. Ash like snow fluttered down through the blistery air and covered the ruins of yet another lost civilization. 

Half-buried in the rubble, a figure lay still. Sonic rushed over to discover with horror, that the figure was a large, metal man. That meant one thing.

Eggman. Eggman had been responsible for this. Sonic cursed his name in his mind. 

The metal man was covered in puncture marks, like stabs marks from swords or spears. The foxes had stuck around long enough to destroy it at least, good old foxes. Now if only they'd show their faces.

Sonic eyed a piece of paper, burned around the edges, blowing across the blackness. Sonic stepped on it and looked closer. It was a child’s drawing of an airplane. He lifted his foot and watched it whirl away. Foxes were clever. Maybe they escaped to some mountain hideout. Maybe they’d show up in the villages in a day or two after the fire subsided. They had to. There was no way they were all…

“Is there anyone out there?” Sonic shouted into the wind. Only the crackling of smoldering tree roots replied. Sonic zipped throughout the ruins, searching every corner for any sign of life, but found none. Maybe they were all… no. It cannot be. It simply cannot be. Sonic stood in the courtyard and faced the lodge.

“Where are you? Where is everybody? Come out! I’ve come to help!” He shouted. There was no answer. Wait! What was that? Sonic swiveled his ears. There it was again! A small cough.

“I hear you! Where are you?” Sonic called.

“Mama! Daddy!” A small voice rasped and coughed again. Sonic took off, his ears leading him.

“I’m coming! Shout again so I can find you!” 

“Who’s there? Uncle Dusty?” The voice asked. Sonic pinpointed the voice to a small charred structure hidden amongst a tangle of branches and twigs of a fallen tree in the center of the courtyard. Even though the lodge had burned to the ground, this one small structure had amazingly survived. Sonic looked in the top window. Sitting on his knees in the ashes, a small fox kit looked up at him. 

His fur was black and grey, singed and covered in ash and cinders. On his lap his paws rested, burned pink and raw. A small trickle of blood ran down the side of his head.

“Hey there, little buddy, are you okay?” Sonic reached down toward him.

“Aah! Don’t eat me!” The boy cried recoiled away from Sonic’s hand. He huddled close to the wall and wrapped himself in his tail.

“It’s okay, don’t be afraid, I don’t mean to hurt you.” The fox stared at him alarmed and leaned away. 

“What are you?” The fox asked with wide, bright blue eyes. 

“I’m a hedgehog. Sonic the Hedgehog. What’s your name?”

“Miles.”

“Nice to meet you Miles.” The boy didn’t answer. Sonic continued. “I came here to help. Can I help you?” Miles stood up on his tiptoes and strained to look over the splintered walls of the small structure.

“Where’s Mama and Daddy?” 

“I don’t know—they’re not here. No one else is here except you and me.

“I want my Mama and Daddy!”

“I’ll do my best to find them, but for now, I’d like to take you somewhere safer. Is that okay?” The fox hesitated then nodded. Sonic gently picked him up out of the window of the structure.

“I’ve got you, little buddy!”

“Okay.” 

Sonic bolted out of the wreckage, through the northern gap, far around the perimeter of the fire, and came to a halt a few miles away in the hazy, but still green forest.

“You okay, little guy?” Sonic asked.

“Wow,” Miles said dizzily. “You run fast.”

“That’s right! I’m the fastest thing alive! Now tell me. What happened back there?”

Miles pointed. “Look! That’s what happened!” 

Several hundred feet away, a massive mechanical man trampled southward.

“Watch out for his lightning arms! He’s going to burn down the whole forest!” The fox covered his face with his tail.

“Not if I can help it! Hold on, kid!” The forest became a green blur as Sonic dashed southward. They zoomed through the last few miles of forest, past the farms and orchards of the villages, through the city gates and all the way to the King’s tower palace of Neopolis. He stopped inside the palace just outside the throne room. Two guards stood blocking the way in with spears.

“Ineedtoseethekingsomethinghashappenedandthereisagiant…” Sonic rattled off.

“Go on in,” the guard, rolling his eyes, interrupted. Sonic burst in. Startled, the King, Princess Sally, Rotor Walrus, and several soldiers looked at him.

“Sonic, what is it? What did you find?” Sally asked without skipping a beat. Sonic held up the fox boy.

“Oh no! The poor thing!” Sally gushed.

“He’s hurt! Let me see him!” Said an accented dog in lavender scrubs and a white jacket. 

“Amazing! That fox has an extra tail!” Rotor exclaimed.

“What? Really?” Sonic asked and lifted the boy higher and looked at his hindquarters. “Oh, wow, he does! That’s pretty cool!”

“You really think so?” Miles asked looking over his shoulder. He flicked both his tails around for a show, showering ash onto the rug.

“Everyone focus! This is serious!” Sally urged. “What happened?” Miles squirmed out of Sonic’s grip and hopped to the floor.

“Well, okay,” He began, “there were these three metal monsters that shoot lightning out of their hands who smashed the lodge and set everything on fire! I was hiding in my treehouse but they knocked it over and everything was burning and then that super-fast blue hedgehog guy found me and—” 

“Whoah, slow down,” the king interrupted. “Metal monsters that shoot lightning?”

“Yeah, my Uncle Dusty said—” and in his best imitation of his uncle’s voice “— ‘it’s a robot that generates an electrical charge with that rotating chest piece and shocks trees into flames.’”

“That sounds an awful lot like Robotnik,” King Max said.

“Oh, you mean Eggman,” Rotor said. “I was thinking the same thing.” King Max glared at him. 

“What?”

“Don’t correct the King!” Sally whispered loudly.

“Oh right. Sorry. Your highness.”

“Um, excuse me,” Miles said tapping the king’s arm with the back of his hand. The doctor dog reached toward the boy but he jumped away.

“So the three giant robots,” Sonic said. “I think the foxes took one down, I saw one fly away, and the third is marching toward the city,” Sonic said.

“How far away is it? How fast is it traveling?”

“Um, excuse me, mister uncle sir,” Miles said looking up at the king. Distracted, he tussled Miles’ head.

“Six miles as the crow flies, or shall I say, as the hedgehog runs.” Sonic smiled and winked. Sally rolled her eyes. “It isn’t moving very fast so we’ve got some time.”

“What about the wildfires? How bad are they?”

“NO! STOP TALKING! LISTEN TO ME!” Miles yelled. Surprised, everyone looked at him.

“All the other foxes are missing.” He said trying to hold back tears. “Mister uncle Sonic the Hedgehog said he couldn’t find any. Not even my Mama or Daddy. Where did they all go? I want my Mama and Daddy!”

The King knelt next to him. 

“You’ve been very brave and strong, son. Now, I don’t know where they are but we’ll do our best to find out what happened to them.” He said. “Now Doctor Valencia’s going to go take care of you and patch you up, okay?” He motioned to the doctor dog. Miles looked at her outstretched hand and friendly smile.

“Come on, cariño, we’ll head down to my clinic. I have some nice toys there. Would you like a puppy-back ride?”

“Are you going to find my Mama and Daddy?” Miles asked Sonic.

“I’ll do my best,” Sonic said.

“O-okay,” Miles nodded. The doctor knelt down and Miles climbed on her back. The king waited to speak again until they left.

“Were there any… remains?” He asked delicately.

“No. I didn’t see any.”

“Good. That means they’re probably still alive, but captured. That robot you saw flying away may have been a transport vessel.”

“You think—” Sonic began. The king held up his hand.

“I know you can run fast. Do you think you can catch up to that robot that flew away?”

“Catch up to it?” Sonic grinned and put his thumb to his chest. “I could beat it to wherever its going three times over and still have time for a nap.”

“Then get going.”

“Yes, sir!” Sonic saluted and zoomed off.

“I have heard what has happened and I wish to offer my services,” said an accented coyote entering the room uninvited.

“Who are you?” Asked Rotor.

“Aren’t you that coyote that…” Sally began.

“Zat ze foxes saved in ze mountains some time ago? Yes, I am he. I hear zat zey are in ze trouble and I am wishing to repay my debt to zem and help.” He knelt before the king. “I apologize, your majesty. I was not completely honest when I arrived. I am, in fact, a soldier from ze Francian Army!”

“He’s a spy!” Sally accused. “He must have led Eggman’s robots here!” The king motioned for her to be quiet.

“D’Coolette, we’ll talk about that later. But for right now—”

“Whaaah!” Rotor yelped and waved his arms. “My tracker’s showing that there’s a whole hoard of badniks headed toward the city!”

“What?!” Antoine squealed.

“Where did he get…” asked the King.

“Don’t ask,” Sally interrupted.

“You know that one robot the foxes destroyed? Well it just sort of disassembled into a whole boatload of badbots! They’re coming quick, fast, and in a hurry and they’ll be here in like five minutes max!”

“What are we waiting for? Come on! Let’s go fight!” Sally bolted for the door.

“Hold on, Sally,” the King yelled, but Sally ignored him and sprinted down the corridor. He sighed and rolled his eyes. “Sometimes that girl… oh nevermind,” He said. “Muster the militia! Send alpha patrol to take the fight to the big lightning robot. Beta patrol is to stop the small badniks – the smallniks – from getting past Oak Village. Don’t let them see the or enter city. Gamma patrol is in charge of getting the civilians safe and indoors. Then after, everyone go and fight the wildfires.” 

“Yes, sir!” The guards left.

“I’m gonna go set up a signal jammer to prevent coordinated attack maneuvers and wireless communication with—”

“No explanation needed. If you think it’ll help, just go do it,” the king interrupted.

“Oh! Okay! Bye!” Rotor dashed out. Antoine was the only one left with the king.

“Ummm…” He said and laughed nervously. 

“There’s nothing you can do for the foxes, but if you want to help, go help gamma squad with the civilians.”

“Oui, monsieur!” Antoine left the king alone with his thoughts.


	3. Glacier of Madness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic races northward to rescue the captured foxes, but gets trapped in a glacier and is forced to face his fears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this. The locations I describe are based off of actual places I've been to many times in Alaska.

The wet snow of the lower elevations stung Sonic’s face as he raced along the valley floor. He ran up a tussock like a ramp, leaped off of a stone escarpment, and sprang over a crack in the ground through which flowed an ice-laced stream. Upon landing, his feet slipped on the slush-covered moss and swept out from under him. 

“Whaaah!” THUNK!

“Ow,” Sonic said staring at the sky. “This is why I don’t like snow. It’s hard to run on. That and its cold.” He stood, shook off his quills, and set out again, this time a little slower and more cautious. He internally lamented how his plane was not airworthy yet and was still undergoing repairs by Rotor. Finding the flying robot that had kidnapped the foxes would be a whole lot easier if he too was in a flying machine.

Further uphill, the valley narrowed and gained elevation. On either side, the mountains had smooth sides of sediment, but the peaks were rocky and jutted out of the dirt like crumbled castles. Thousands of years of rain and wind must have eroded away the soil from the rocky bones of the range.

‘This place is pretty bleak with all this snow and cold grey rock, but I wonder what it would look like in summer,’ Sonic thought. ‘Give it some greenness, some flowers, and a blue sky… yeah! This could be a good place for a picnic.’

Up and up the floor of the valley rose between the undulating ridgelines until Sonic could see no mighty summits ahead of him to terminate the valley. There stood only one single hill at the upper edge of the valley and beyond that, the sky. Sonic was confused and curious. What lay beyond the mysterious hill? He slowed as he ascended the final slope. Distant magnificent mountains rose sharply into view and the earth before him seemed to fall away into oblivion. 

Sonic stopped at the summit of the hill and peered down the steep slope into a wide dark green snowless valley that ran northeastward. Like a silver ribbon, a river snaked its way back and forth down the length of the valley and meandered out of sight. Endless spines of mountains extended north beyond the valley, east roughly parallel to the river and westward toward the sea. Like the white city of towers, like Neopolis, the snowy peaks sparkled in a million minarets. And it took his breath away.

“Wow! This is definitely a totally awesome place for a picnic!” Sonic smiled. “What a fantastic view! I should bring Sally up here sometime! But first things first, time to find some foxes!” He took one tentative step down toward the massive valley and onto the overhanging snowy cornice. It broke away and began to slide down the steep slope. Sonic tried to scramble back up but the snow of the cornice dropped rapidly and broke apart.

“Uh oh!” Sonic groaned as gravity took over.

He tumbled head over heels in the icy avalanche. Spinning into a protective ball, he let the rushing snow take him. Faster and faster the blue blur catapulted downward. He intended to use this momentum to his advantage to travel far and fast up the valley but instead he hit a tussock at the base of the slope that propelled him upward in the air. The hedgehog flew in a graceful arc before plunging downward into the leafless branches of a mountain ash tree. 

“Oof!” He found himself hanging upside-down in a twiggy old tree. 

Owowowow!” He whined as he disentangled himself and dropped to the ground, bouncing on the thick spongy moss. 

“Whoah, this is springy!” He said. He and hopped playfully from tussock to tussock, then leaped up on a boulder to survey the landscape. The mosses and sedges of varying kinds, colors and textures, which covered the entire valley floor, were interrupted only by sparse patches of dwarf trees, thick bushes, and the occasional boulder.

“Seriously?” Sonic threw his hands up into the air. “Anywhere else I could have landed would have been softer than that gnarly old tree.” As if in reply, the branches shivered slightly in the afternoon breeze. Sonic turned and faced northeastward up the valley and into the wind.

“I still need to keep looking those foxes.” He muttered to himself, worrying whether he could actually find them. He was at a significant disadvantage. He didn’t know for sure what direction or where the robot was headed, he was running, not flying, through difficult, unknown terrain, and had gotten a late start. Not to mention the fact that the transport was being propelled by rocket fuel while Sonic was propelled only by chili dogs and a sense of purpose.

His mind flashed back to the scene in the burned forest where he pulled the solitary little fox from the scorched wreckage and falling ash. His face wore an expression of distress and loneliness that cut Sonic to the core.

“I have to keep looking, no matter how hopeless it seems.” He reminded himself. “For little Miles.” He mentally plotted his path forward through the valley. “Well, what are you waiting for? Time to rock on!”

***

Sonic ran easily up the valley along what may have once been a flagstone-paved road. He covered 15 miles in 15 minutes before coming to a screeching halt. The road disappeared under a landslide of boulders that lay in a frozen cascade from a crack between the mountains which extended from the top of the saddle all the way down to the ridge’s root of stone. He hopped from boulder to boulder. On top of one boulder were a stack of flat rocks which seemed to signify something but he didn’t know what. Soon the rockfall gave way to a brilliant blue lake laced in ice that spanned the entire width of the narrowing valley. Sonic hugged the northern shore and jogged through saturated moss and spans of ice-crusted slush. The valley turned northward. Sonic rounded the bend, then stopped dead in his tracks.

“Whoah!” Sonic gasped in amazement and wonder. 

The valley ended in a bowl with towering mountains on three sides. The talons of a glacier overflowed the high sierra and draped between the windy gaps. Snow blanketed the tops of the peaks, filled the avalanche channels that cut deep into the solid bastions of the granite giants, and piled hundreds of feet high against the black slopes. 

Like a wall, high peaks cast their foreboding shadows down into the storm-grey valley. The topmost tips of the snowy spires caught the rosy evening sun like lanterns in the twilight. Ethereal wisps of blushing powder snow blew from the peaks. The sweeping slopes descended into pale blue, periwinkle, indigo, and finally the navy blue of the alpine groundcover.

Pouring forth from the jagged notches between the mountains, icy blasting wind flooded the valley with a constant gale. Sonic pressed his ears back to shield them from the icy breath of God himself. 

‘How am I supposed to get past that?’ Sonic thought to himself in bewilderment. 

‘You shall not pass,’ the mountains seemed to say in an avalanche that roared like thunder through a cataract on the center mountain.

“Challenge accepted!” Sonic smirked arrogantly, but his heart quivered.

He ran hard and fast at the nearest colossal avalanche-drift. The snowpack was densely packed and supported his weight, but it was slick. Sonic made it half-way up before slipping and sliding rapidly down. He crashed into the soft powdery lower drifts. He popped out of the bank and waded back to solid ground. This time he backed up as far as the shore of the lake. Sonic spun in place to gain speed then released his grip on the weeded silt and burst forward. He barreled so fast that sprays of snow kicked up behind him like wake behind a ship. Sonic sped up the steep and slippery slope. Success! He passed the snow drift behind and proceeded up the precipitous cliff to the gap. But the rushing roaring pounding wind that screamed through the gap punched him backward off the ancient bedrock wall. 

“Ahh! I’m falling! Off a mountain!” Sonic yelled and curled into a ball. He rolled and bounced down the decline hitting every unforgiving protrusion on the way down. He hit the snowpack with enough force to break open his protective ball and slapped the snow with his face as he tumbled ever faster toward the valley floor. He reformed his ball and extended his spines to tear up the snow and slow his descent. Even still, he hit the lowest snowdrifts and ploughed through them straight into the frozen ground.

“Owww…” He groaned weakly facedown into the permafrost. “Good thing I’m one tough hedgehog.”

Gingerly, he got up and rubbed his face as he trudged through the deep snow back to the shore of the lake. Then he trotted past the lake several miles. 

“Plenty of momentum now! Haha! You can’t stop me, mountain, I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!” He revved his legs until they were blurs. “And I’m the fasts thing alive!”

WHOOSH!

Sonic tore across the frosty shores, ran on top of the lake water, to the mountain, up the avalanche snowpack, up the slope, and launched high above the gap. His trajectory arced and he landed near the summit of one of the lower mountains. 

“Look at me, mountain!” He started victory dancing. “I just… whoah…” Sonic gaped at the landscape before him. “Oh. I did not expect that.”

Ice.

Shockingly blue, beautiful, treacherous, deadly ice.

Jagged columns of ice crowded together like millions of huge glass shards made up a vast glacial ice field as far as the eye could see. 

“None shall pass,” the glacier seemed to cry in the deep cracking and rumbling of the shifting ice.

“No! You can’t stop me! I’m Sonic the Hedgehog!”

“You shall not pass,” the ice field echoed.

“I’m gonna get past you and save the day!”

“NO,” the ice field boomed.

Sonic curled up into a ball and free fell straight down the front of the mountain. The mountain angled outward and Sonic ran down a precipitous gully then took a flying leap. He soared over the edge of the ice field and carefully aimed his feet for a relatively-flat-topped ice spike. He landed with way too much momentum and slipped off between the spikes into a crevasse. 

Down, down, down, Sonic slid. The crevasse became narrower and narrower until the walls on either side compressed his body. His descend slowed until he could slide no further. But neither could he breath. The only thing he could move were his arms. He started rubbing the ice wall above him with his hands, faster and faster until the friction melted the ice and created two handholds. He pulled himself up just enough that he could get a shallow breath. The kicking his feet, he chipped out two footholds. Looking down, Sonic couldn’t see the bottom. The crevasse went on forever into a blue pit of infinity. 

Sonic decided he hated water in every form. Not just liquid, the frozen stuff too. How was he going to get out of this one? He was wasting time! Every second the foxes were getting farther and farther away. His mind flashed back to the face of the injured fox boy sitting in the ashes of everything he ever knew. Sonic smashed the ice wall with his fist. 

“Don’t stand in my way, stupid ice field! I’m doing a good thing!” He shouted. The ice only hummed a faint note in response. Or maybe it was just the wind.

“Let me go or I’ll smash you to pieces!” The ice did not respond at all.

“Rrraaaahhhh!” Sonic bellowed. He pushed off of his footholds, sprang up as far as he could and formed a spinning saw. He carved a path along the length of the crevasse, but his efforts destabilized the ice above. A column of ice from the wall broke off and dropped into the crevasse, fracturing into knife-shard shards and filled in the gap between the walls. More ice broke off the walls above Sonic all along his saw tunnel. He was in trouble. 

Sonic heard a rushing sound different from the collapsing crevasse—water! It might be his only escape. Sonic sawed faster toward the sound. Water meant a wider, more stable channel through the ice.

“Wha—glurg!” Sonic burst out of the crevasse and into a narrow slippery tunnel full of water. There was nothing he could do but follow the tunnel. Down it went, swerving now and again to the left or the right. The ice-pipe funneled water ever downward. The walls grew darker and darker shades of blue as he descended deeper. Sonic was running out of air. He needed to get out. He tried to saw his way out, but he moved too fast through the tube to get a grip on the wall for any length of time. He started feeling panicky and clawed at the smooth ice walls.

Suddenly, he was free falling. The tube had launched him out into a large chamber, an ice cave. Sonic rapidly dropped toward a large pool of water. He tried to spin away. He tried to swim away. But it was all in vain.

SPLOOSH! Sonic slapped the water and dropped like a dead weight. He hit the bottom and thrashed madly to resurface but made no progress. The water was over his head. It was cold and dark and scary. He put his feet on the sandy bottom and jumped upward easily clearing the surface. It was then that he realized that the water was only chest deep. He landed on his feet and stood, head above water. 

“Aaaand, I hope no one saw that,” he chuckled to himself.

He was in a large chamber whose ceiling slanted upward infinitely. Had he been small enough, he might have fallen all the way through the crevasse down here. Sonic waded out of the pool to solid ground. He was at the bottom of the ice field, underneath thousands of tons of solid water… Sonic shivered, chilled to the bone. What now? Where should he go? 

Many tunnels and crevasses branched off from the main chamber. Sonic picked one at random and walked. The floor was sandy. The walls were ice. It meandered this way and that. Then the tunnel forked. Sonic took the left path. ‘When in doubt, go left!’ His old granny used to say.

In this tunnel, the floor was sandy. The walls were ice. It meandered this way and that. Then the tunnel forked. Sonic took the left path again.

In this next tunnel, the floor was sandy. The walls were ice. It meandered this way and that. Sonic, feeling annoyed, started running. The tunnel forked. Sonic took the right path this time. Maybe granny had led him astray and right was right.

The tunnel spat him out back in the main chamber.

“Okay… that one’s a bust.” Sonic picked a different tunnel on the other side of the chamber.

In this tunnel, the floor was sandy. The walls were ice. It wandered up and down, left and right. Then the tunnel forked into three. Sonic took the center path. If only he had a map. Or an internal compass. Or a real compass. Rotor probably had like twelve compasses in his workshop, he was such a pack rat. No offense to any rats.

“Sorry, it’s just a stereotype,” Sonic said out loud. He startled himself with the volume of his own voice in the small space. Had he just said that out loud?

“This place… it’s making me crazy,” he said. Then the tunnel forked. Sonic took the right one with barely any thought.

In this tunnel, the floor was sandy. The walls were ice. It meandered up and down and in loop de loops and circles and squares and triangles and trapezoidal shards of ice collapsing through the crevasse. The tunnel forked into five paths and shook Sonic out of his reverie. Yeah. Yet another reason to hate ice. It was making him lose his mind. He picked a tunnel at random and couldn’t remember which one he chose three seconds after starting down it.

Sonic began to feel hungry. How long had it been since he left Oak Village? He daydreamed of chilidogs and rocket fuel and walked smack into an icicle. He kicked it and it broke off and thumped into the sand. Turned out, the icicle was an ice column that supported the ice-cave’s roof. The roof and walls cracked. Sonic zipped out into the open chamber again as the tunnel collapsed. 

“Well, now that one literally busted. Hehe. See what I did there? Literally busted? What am I saying? No one else is here. EXCEPT YOU! YEAH I’M TALKING TO YOU!” He shouted up at the glacier above him. Then he thought better about shouting in an ice cave. “You nasty blue conglomeration of trapezoidal stupidity,” he added quietly and crossed his arms. An idea sparked.

“Maybe if I go really fast…!”

Sonic zipped through a random tunnel and popped out back into the main chamber four seconds later.

“Okayyy, that wasn’t the right one.” He tried another tunnel and dropped through a hole in the ceiling back into the pool of water six seconds later.

Sonic waded out muttering unintelligibly. He tried a third tunnel. He didn’t reappear back in the main chamber for a whole twenty-five seconds. When he did, he was covered in sand from head to toe.

“Don’t even ask,” he said to no one in particular and definitely not to the glacier. It had already seen the whole thing. Sonic yanked on his quills.

“Argh! Stupid ice. Stupid water. Stupid sand.” He thought of Miles again and the other foxes fading farther and farther into the distance. He sighed. “Stupid me.” He should have just taken the plane even though it wasn’t fully airworthy. Now here he was wasting time, walking in circles underneath a glacier as he slowly went insane. What if he never made it out? Or worse, what if he did but he was crazy? Wait. How was insanity worse than death by starvation? Mmm. Chili dogs.

“Come on Sonic! Get it together!” Sonic closed his eyes and counted backward from ten thousand in his head. He took a deep breath. “Okay. Think this through. I need to go north! I need to find the foxes!”

“No, son.”

Sonic opened his eyes. He was a little kid again, fed up at being trapped and enslaved on Kairos Island with too much energy and nowhere to run. He had tried to fight a badnik guard and gotten roughed up pretty good. Dad held his arm. Sonic tried to yank away but dad was too strong.

“Know when you’re beat,” Dad said. “Stop and live to fight another day.” He released Sonic’s arm.

“No! I have to go north! I have to find the foxes!” Sonic countered and crossed his arms.

“Nope. Not today you don’t!” Dad snorted.

“No! Shut up! You don’t know anything!”

“I’ve lived this long, so I think I must know something.”

“I told the King, I told Miles that I’d find them.”

“No, you were smart enough to say you’d try your best. This is your best for now. All that was required is that you tried. You aren’t required to succeed.”

“Tried isn’t enough! I can’t fail! I have to succeed!”

“Then think of it as you’ll succeed later. You haven’t failed. You just haven’t succeeded yet.”

“But I can’t… that little kid! I can’t get him out of my head! I have to get his family back. He’s so small and hurt and alone! I can’t just let him keep on hurting and being alone.”

“No? Good. Because he needs help and to be taken care of until his family can be recovered.”

“This whole thing is stupid. You’re not real. And I need to go north.”

“If you do, you won’t come back. And that little boy won’t survive the night.”

“WHAT? He didn’t seem that hurt—”

“There is more at stake than your pride. Lives are at stake. The city is under attack. The forest is on fire. And your girlfriend is running around in the thick of all of it. You know this as well as I or have you forgotten in your insane quest to never fail?”

“Dad… I…” Sonic was at a loss for words. “Dad, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

“You bet I am, kid. But in this case, just saying sorry doesn’t make it right.”

“Dad, where are you? I’m—I’m lost.”

“I’m always here son. I’m with you, in here.” Dad tapped his chest solemnly. Then he burst out laughing.

“Haha, just kidding. I’m all up here.” He tapped Sonic’s head. “I’m all in your head. You’re hallucinating. Lack of stimuli will do it to ya.” Sonic grinned.

“But in all seriousness, son, you better run. Now. That kid you keep thinking about, he’ll die if you don’t.”

“Yeah. Okay dad. I hear you. Loud and clear.”

Sonic opened his eyes. This time, for real. He was still in the ice cave at the bottom of a glacier with no way out. 

“Come on, think, think, think! Channel your inner brilliance!” He squeezed his head with his hands. “Nope! Don’t have any! I’ll just have to channel Zephyr’s. She was the smart one of the three of us!” Sonic pictured his sister telling him to take inventory of what he did have. Sonic looked around the chamber.

“Sand, a pool of evil water, and a million useless tunnels that go nowhere. Sand. Pool. Tunnels. Sand. Pool. Of water. Water tunnel that drains into the pool. A less useless tunnel but I don’t think I can go upstream so basically useless anyways… Sand. Pool… huh.” Sonic tilted his head sideways and analyzed the shoreline. Water drained into the pool constantly, but the water level didn’t rise. There must be a drain out of the pool. And water always flows downhill so it would probably drain toward the ocean. That was south or west. Definitely not north. He reminded himself that he just needed to get out of the glacier. He shouldn’t keep trying to go north. It was a dead end.

Sonic walked along the shore and waded through the water. Sure enough, there was a tunnel in the ice on one side that the water drained into. It was just large enough for him to roll into a ball and travel through it. He shivered. A tunnel. Full of water. Through a wall of solid ice. Which was basically water with a stubborn attitude. Sonic hated all of those words. Hated the enough to not put them in the same sentence together. Except attitude, which he considered to be one of his strengths.

Once again, he thought of little Miles, covered in ash, with burnt paws, crying for his parents. Then he thought of the giant lightning robots that set the forest on fire. They were still coming after Miles even after Sonic had taken him to safety in Neopolis. As long the robot stood, Miles wasn’t safe. No one was. He imagined the robot rampaging through town…

Sonic took a deep breath. Time to go. Once again, the boy’s face flashing in his mind. Why couldn’t he get him out of his head? Sonic shrugged. If little Miles was what propelled him forward to do what was right, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing. 

“I’m coming, little buddy!” Sonic took a deep breath, curled up and jumped in the hole.

***

Sonic stood, drenched and freezing next to the stream which had exited the glacier at the western moraine. He squeezed his quills and icy water dribbled down his arms and onto his soggy shoes.

“Brr!” He shook like a dog. “The best way to get warm is to exercise, as Pyro would say.” He thought of his older brother and wondered where in the world he was. Eggman had broken up too many families. He had to be stopped. Sonic ran sluggishly to the top of the sandy and stony moraine and looked out over the sea of ice, glittering in the twilight. He looked northward. He knew the rocket with the foxes was long gone by now. He’d lost them. 

He couldn’t do it today, but someday he’d go north and find them. But how to get past this ice field? He knew he couldn’t go through it—the glacier had made that clear to him. Maybe he could go around it to the east through the high sierra or to the west along the shoreline. If only Rotor would hurry up and fix his plane, then he could fly!

“All paths lead to ice!” The glacier growled.

“No!” Sonic shouted into the desolation. “I’ll find a way! You can’t stop me! I will find and rescue the foxes just like I promised!” 

The glacier had no reply, but the roaring winds repelled him. A particularly strong gust tried to push him off the moraine, but Sonic knelt down and held fast. He looked southward toward the Hidden Valley. The dark grey brown cloud had grown immensely. The fire still raged. The robot must still be rampaging. Sonic looked back northward over the endless field of ice. He imagined the foxes huddled in the dark holding pod of the steel giant somewhere miles and miles north, far out of his reach. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!” He shouted. “I’ll come back for you again! I’ll keep looking! But I’ve got to go take care of Miles and the others first!” He promised. Then he stood and let go of his grip on the moraine and let the wind propel him backward down the slope and toward the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I know. I changed the names of Sonic's siblings. I also changed Sonic's name too. Sorry not sorry, I couldn't stand the horror of Olgivie Maurice.


	4. Destiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally realizes her calling and disobeys her dad to fulfill it.
> 
> or 
> 
> Sally realizes she's a bad@$$.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> UPDATE: After the fact, I have replaced the OC, Captain Samantha Smyth with Geoffrey St. John. Please excuse it if I accidentally refer to Captain St. John as her or Captain Sam. I'm trying to correct it throughout the story, but I may miss one or two.

Sally forged her way up the steep hill above Oak Village, scimitar and blaster in hand. Multiple beetle-like drones flew in squads of four through the orchards and fields toward the villages and Neopolis. Sally fired one blast at each of the five visible squads in quick succession to hopefully distract them and delay their progress. Two of smallniks dropped to the ground fizzing and sparking. The nearest squad, now with three drones, turned charged Sally. She had time to shoot a second one out of the air before the remaining ones were upon her. 

She took half a second to get a good look at them. They were generally black but their red external shells had a black hourglass marking flanked by a large black spot on each side. In the center of their abdomens spinning gyroscopes generated static and electrified the tips of their six legs. Their antennae acted as a propeller allowing them to fly. Hit their antennae and they’d be grounded, but they could probably still crawl around. Hit the gyroscope or their legs and they’d be weaponless. Hit their head—where their computer “brain” presumably was and they’d be nothing more than an ugly paperweight.

“Head it is!” Sally said as the two beetles reached toward her with crackling limbs. In one swift motion, Sally brought her sword down on their heads one after the other, cleaving them off. The two beetlebots careened into the ground diffusing the electrical charges harmlessly into the earth. 

Even though the badniks had not touched her, Sally felt energized. Her senses seemed heightened; she could hear each individual smallniks propeller. Even without seeing them, she mentally mapped their locations and trajectories in relation to her and the village. By now, the wave of squads was behind Sally down the hill and could no doubt see Oak Village as they flew through the orchards and over the field. They appeared to be splitting up and heading toward the individual houses and workshops. All of them, except for two bots that is, which approached Sally from behind. She smiled to herself as she waited to strike. At the last second, Sally spun and simultaneously stabbed one beetle as she shot the other. And it was as if the dragon in her heart had been unleashed. 

Sally had grown up with stories about The War. Stories about heroes and their mighty deeds. Stories about the wretched in their struggle to survive every day. Everyone in the Valley had a story to tell about what they had lost. Sally had lost her mother. Rotor had lost his father. And Sonic, her best friend Bunnie, and now that young fox boy, they had lost their whole families and their homes.

But here they were, the people of the Acorn Kingdom, in the idyllic Hidden Valley, concealed from the entire world, living safe, peaceful lives.

And it wasn’t fair.

By all accounts, outside the valley, the war still raged on. Eggman still oppressed, enslaved, roboticized, and killed. The people of the valley, the Acorn Kingdom had just run away from the battle. And hid. And let everyone continue to suffer.

“We are helping,” her father had once explained. “These people were refugees, slaves, orphans, fugitives. They were sick, injured, and in danger of death. They lost everything. Here, we are sheltering them, providing for them. Preventing their suffering from continuing.”

Sally didn’t doubt that they were doing a good thing, but out there, beyond the valley, there was still so much suffering in the world. Sally wanted to help. She felt called to help, ever since she was young. But she never knew how to go about it. She had never seen any clear path forward.

But now? The enemy had come to their doorstep and crossed the threshold. The enemy she had heard so much about had entered their sanctuary and desecrated it. People she knew and loved were injured, scared, and lost. And right now, Sally was doing something about it. Destiny had called and Sally was answering. As Sally shot her blaster and swung her sword, there was no doubt in her heart and mind, this is what she was born to do. 

To fight.

There was just one problem.

The squads of drones were very fast. Too fast. Sally wouldn’t have time to stop them all before they spread to all three villages and the city. Already, two squads each had veered off toward Olive Village to the right and Cypress Village to the left. Two squads split up to terrorize Oak Village. Three more squads, which had trailed far behind and high above the main wave now passed Oak Village and headed toward Neopolis. Sally fired her blaster straight up into the sky toward them, but missed.

Bang, bang, bang, bang! The bell of the Oak Village schoolhouse rang sharply into the evening air. The quick-thinking teacher, Miss Marley, who had seen Sally’s first fight, had sprinted to the schoolhouse and rang the bell alerting the whole valley that something was going on. Within a few seconds, the bells in the towers of Neopolis echoed in reply.

Bong, bong, bong, bong!

Sally took a moment to survey where she was needed most. The citrus tree rancher, a Tamarin Monkey named Francisco Moreno, armed himself with an axe and whooped loudly as he bounded to Herb the Moose’s aid after he’d been zapped and paralyzed by a beetle. But little did he know, he himself was closely pursued by a beetle. In the central part of the village, Rotor struggled to pull out a weird barrel-like contraption out of his workshop. Four drones dropped toward him and he grabbed a wrench, ready to fight them. In the chickpea field, Arikia the sheep, hurriedly escorted the eldest two dingo pups, toward her root cellar. Arikia was struck by a bolt of electricity from behind fired by a beetle. She dropped stiffly, her whole body tensed and thin coat of summer wool puffy. Danny and Dottie yelped and cowered by the door to the root cellar unsure what to do. Not good. Sally was needed everywhere. 

‘Hurry up!’ She mentally urged her father’s men, wishing that Sonic hadn’t needed to leave. They could have really used his help against the thirty-six smallniks now spread throughout the valley. Sally streaked toward Arikia and the dingo pups.

“Princess Sally!” A male voice called. Sally recognized it as her combat trainer’s, Captain Geoffrey St. John, Captain of the Guard. Sally ignored him. There wasn’t time to spare.

She shot one of the smallniks which tumbled to the ground and broke apart between the bare feet of Danny and Dottie. Two of the remaining beetles’ gyroscopes stopped spinning and the glow of their electric feet faded. They headed toward each of the pups. Danny and Dottie barred their teeth and growled, their fur standing on end. They backed toward the door of the root cellar but there wasn’t time to open it. Sally was still too far away. Sally battle cried and shot into the air to attract the beetles’ attention. 

The beetles rotated to face her. Immediately, their gyroscopes began spinning again and their legs turned white. They shot at her and she dropped, sliding underneath their bolts. She fired but missed. The dingo pups took advantage of Sally’s distraction to pull open the root cellar door and Arikia, who had regained her feet, stumbled toward them, her wool still puffy from static. A few seconds later, the heavy door of the root cellar swung shut with a boom with all three safely sheltered inside.

Sally rolled and stabbed upward at one of the beetles, slicing off two legs and hitting the propeller antennae. The beetle dropped but remained powered. It jabbed at Sally’s feet but Sally expertly danced around it’s legs before stomping on its head. The second beetle’s antennae suddenly reversed direction and the beetle plunged down toward Sally. She fell backward and had just enough time to angle her sword upward. The beetle impaled upon it and powered down. Something wet dribbled onto her hands. She rolled the beetle off herself and hopped to her feet. Grey goo oozed from the stabbed machine and pooled at her feet. It stank to high heaven like rotten eggs. It struck Sally like lightning what that meant.

“Eggman!” She hissed. There was no question about it. He had left his autograph at the scene of the crime. And even worse, she’d gotten some of it on her fur. Now she would be smeeling eggs for the rest of the night.

“Princess Sally!” Captain St. John called, closer this time. Sally pretended she didn’t hear and rolled her eyes. She didn’t particularly feel like being micromanaged.

Sally proceeded to the cellar and knocked on the door.

“Everyone okay in there?” She asked loudly.

“Ju-u-u-u-st peachy,” Arikia baa-ed. 

“Yes, we’re fine,” Danny agreed.

“Good,” said Sally. “Stay there until someone comes to fetch you. Danny and Dottie, I’ll let your father know you are okay.”

“Thanks a lot, Princess Sally!” Dottie replied.

“Princess Sally!” Captain St. John panted as he came to a halt next to her. “Orders from your father!” Sally eyed her mentor warily.

“What is it?”

“Head to Neopolis and help ensure the safety of the civilians,” Captain St. John commanded. 

“Umm… what?” Sally asked. “That is not strategic.” Her father was well aware of her talent and fighting prowess. They both knew it was a waste of her skills, abilities, and present advantageous position for her to run back to town and babysit civilians. It was obvious. The King wanted her out of harm’s way, out of battle. 

In an instant, Sally knew what this was. The moment of truth. The crossroad. Her father intended for her to remain an obedient, docile princess and eventually becoming a domesticated queen. But that’s not what Sally was called to do. Should she continue to follow her father’s orders? To stay safe? Or would she disobey her father, stay in the fight and follow her calling? 

Sally hesitated. If she took that one small step down of disobedience down the other path, the path of her own choosing, that one step would lead to another step. And another. And another. Striding faster and farther away from her father’s will tearing the two of them apart. Maybe irreparably. Maybe forever.

Sally looked over the valley. As the sun made its downward trek across the southeastern horizon, the sea reflected a red glare that illuminated the battle with blood-red rays. Bolts of lightning flashed between the smallniks and the militia. To the north, a dark column of smoke rose, glowing red as the blazing wildfire continued to burn down from the mountains closer and closer toward the villages and the city. Behind her, muffled through the door, Arikia led the frightened children in an upbeat song trying to drown out the sounds of the battle. 

No. Sally would not run away and let the suffering of her people continue. Her father ordered her to take the high road of a queen, but she had a higher calling.

Sally was born to fight.

“No,” Sally uttered. Captain St. John was visibly surprised, but took it in stride.

“Not your call. The militia is spread thin. Your skills are needed elsewhere. You father, the King has given you an assignment in the city.”

“We both know, it is a stupid assignment. I am opting to ignore it,” Sally affirmed her decision, taking another figurative step away from her father. Her mind and body buzzed with excitement. She was filled with fire and fury, as if Lady Destiny approved of her choice and granted her the strength to carry out her task. Captain St. John eye’s widened.

“Come on, you knew this day was coming.” Sally said yanking her sword out of the twitching beetle. Captain St. John did not reply. Sally continued. “You knew I have always disagreed with Father’s lack of action. You knew that one day I wasn’t just going to stand around and watch the world burn down around us while we slept peacefully in this valley.”

“If you’re going to defy your father, at least coordinate your actions with me and the militia,” Captain St. John said, but his eyes pleaded ‘don’t make this worse for yourself.’ Sally considered it briefly. Perhaps that would be wisest.

But, Sally remembered, Captain St. John was infinitely loyal to the King. He knew his intentions were to keep Sally out of battle and would work to do so. Captain St. John wasn’t going to work with Sally. He was working for the King.

“No,” Sally declared. “I’m forging my own path now. I have a higher calling than what father wants for me.”

“I shall have to report to your father that you are going rogue.”

“You do that,” Sally nodded. “I’ve got a world to save.” She turned and sprinted toward Rotor’s workshop.


	5. Awakening

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rotor has drifted through the last year of his life drowsily, dreamily, his mind dulled the by the warmth of the sunny tropical paradise. But then suddenly KABLAMO! His old foe shows up stirring up trouble and all of Rotor's memories and emotions come surging back like a flood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've, no joke, been working on this chapter for like nine months. (See the note on my other work, the Origin of Rotor for details). Finally, FINALLY, I am done with it and am generally satisfied with the result. It isn't perfect, but it doesn't need to be; it is time to move on. The flashback scenes are mostly pulled from the previously mentioned Origin of Rotor. You can read the rest of his story there, if you are interested.

Out of the city gates Rotor ran. He made his way up the dirt road into Oak Village where his workshop loomed. It was late afternoon and the northern sky rapidly turned a hazy pinkish-tan from the wildfire smoke. He hesitated just outside of his workshop and anxiously scanned the sky for the badniks. It had been more than five minutes. They would be there any second. But all was quiet in the village. ‘Maybe, hopefully, I was mistaken…’ Rotor briefly entertained the thought.

_PEW! PEW! PEW!_

“Augh!” Rotor dove to the ground as blaster fire peppered the grass along the road north of his workshop. He covered his head but looked upward.

 _NEEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWW!_ A pair of red spherical flying robots buzzed close to the roof of the workshop. Rotor though they kinda looked like ladybugs. He had to get under cover and get to work. Rotor jumped to his feet and bolted inside, closing the heavy sliding door shut with a thud.

“Whew! I made it!” Rotor said looking back at the door. “Now I just need to start building the jammer.” He strode toward the parts shelves, but froze in the middle of the shop.

The floor seemed to sway under his feet. Rotor reached a trembling hand out to the wing of Sonic’s airplane and clung weakly to the strut as his heart raced and pounded. He stared dumbly at the parts shelves; he couldn’t remember what he was after.

Gunfire outside startled him and he bolted underneath the heavy worktable. Breathing fast, he stared at the door waiting for something evil to burst in and attack. Light flashed around the edges of the door and was followed half a second later by a bone-rattling thunderbolt. Something had exploded. Rotor covered his ears with his hands and looked out the upper windows near the ceiling of the shop. The sky was rapidly darkening as it filled with smoke. Dark. It reminded him of something. The sky was growing dark. Just like it was that night on the mountaintop all those years ago.

***

_Long after the moon had set, the lone walrus family reached the summit. Boomer’s mother, Aka, unwrapped the parcel she carried to reveal a paper lantern. Boomer had seen other families carry the sacred love-lantern when they made their trips up to the mountains after loved ones died. His friend, Rocky, and her family had done it when their grandmother Lupine died. Aunt Sunset and Uncle James had done it when their baby died two winters ago. When Elder Tanana passed, his wife was too old to climb to The High Place, so she carried the lantern and lit it at the edge of the village. It was something that happened to others, never to Boomer and his family. He had never imagined that he’d have to light the lantern himself._

_Aka unfolded the lantern and held it up. Boomer lit a match and carefully shielded it from the wind with his hand. He reached in the lantern and held it against the wick. A thin strand of smoke rose up into the balloon part. The wick burst into flame. Boomer shook out the match and dropped in his knapsack. Wordlessly, they watched the lantern expand and glow with a pleasant yellow light._

_“Apa is here,” Aka said solemnly. If he hadn’t been there, the fire in the lantern would not have lit, or so the legends say. She looked at both of her sons._

_“Now is the time to say our last words to Apa. He will hear our words and they will be bound to this lantern. When we release the lantern, the spirit of Apa will take it. The light of our love will guide him onward into the Highest World.” She held out the lantern to six-year-old Dash. He accepted it._

_“What are your last words to Apa?” She asked. Dash sobbed and choked through his goodbyes. Boomer watched him, but he couldn’t hear him over the crashing waves in his own heart._

***

“No, no, no, no, no!” Rotor whined. “Stop it! I don’t want to think about that!” Rotor shook his head as if to shake out the unpleasant memory.

Rotor was bewildered.

What the heck was going on? He came into the workshop to build a thing. Why was he suddenly remembering the night his father died? Why did he feel completely overwhelmed with terror? He was hiding under a table for Pete’s sake! It was totally illogical! Why was he feeling and acting this way? In his head, Rotor knew he was not in immediate danger, but his racing heart and fast breaths said otherwise. It was totally illogical.

Or was it?

The realization struck him like a sneaker wave.

_Eggman!_

This _was_ the first time in a year and a half that he had thought about, let alone encountered Eggman, his most hated (and only) foe. He was the monster who was responsible for his father’s death, who provoked Rotor to commit the sins of his youth, the reason he was banished from his homeland…

Rotor kicked out his foot with a yell and kicked a stool sending it flying into the parts shelves with a magnificent _crack._

“Shh, shh, shh, no… calm down. Pull it together,” Rotor told himself, but he felt anything but calm. In fact, it felt like he was winding up more.

For the last year, since he had taken refuge in the valley, Rotor had lived sleepily. The memories of his past and the strong emotions that once plagued his heart were dulled by the warm sun, the sound of the gentle waves lapping on the shore, and the smell of the ocean breeze blowing through the orchards and gardens of the Hidden Valley. He had almost completely forgotten the brightness and cold of his northern homeland, the dramatic events of his youth and the blazing emotions that fueled his passionate quest for justice. But not anymore. Everything he had long suppressed or forgotten came roaring back like a storm surge, now that he was faced with… with him!

Cascading feelings, memories, senses, overwhelmed him. He could feel the icy north wind blowing off the mountains. He could see the half-frozen shore bridging the tundra and the ocean. He could smell the stink of old fish and stagnant bog water. But most of all he could feel the passionate burning outrage that filled every cell in his body. Injustice! Cruelty! Tyranny!

_Eggman!_

***

_Boomer stood on the battleground. Blood splotches dotted the ice, staining it brown. It was clear, Apa wasn’t the only one to suffer and die in the battle. Somewhere out there, other families mourned their own losses, just like Boomer. And it was wrong. So wrong._

_Rising in his heart as a noble conviction, Boomer knew he had to do something to avenge his father and protect his brother and mother. He had to stop that madman Eggman, from hurting his people and world ever again. He didn’t want anyone else to go through what he went through losing a loved one._

_But how? He was only fifteen years old. Now that his father died, he had no one to show him how to be a man, how to be warrior, how to save the world. He felt adrift in the ocean. Lost._

_“Son, you should not be here.” Boomer turned around, startled. It was a caribou medic. He had been noticed by one of the clean-up crews._

_“This is not a safe place for anyone, let alone a young person,” he said. “Come along. I’ll show you the safe path out of the battlefield.” Boomer obediently followed him to the outskirts where a frozen river served as a road._

_“Go home,” the caribou said. “I’m sure your family misses you.”_

_“Yeah,” Boomer agreed, tiredly. He rubbed his head, feeling a headache oncoming. The caribou walked off and returned to his work. Boomer slowly skirted the western edge of the battleground. ‘Hurry up. Go home. There was no more reason to linger here,’ Boomer told himself. His father was no longer there. No longer anywhere. The caribou was right. Boomer still had the rest of his family, probably back in the village by now, worrying about him._

_Boomer kicked a damaged drone laying on the ground. It fired a laser blast into the mud. He jumped back. The drone had just fired? It must not have been completely incapacitated. Boomer kicked it again. It fired again, but only when he kicked it. Boomer cautiously stepped around it and kept going. The battlefield really was still a dangerous place for the cleaning crews. The drones laying around were still all live weapons. One wrong move and somebody could get hurt._

_‘Someone should take one of these things and use it to blast all the other miserable drones,’ Boomer thought. Then he stopped, dumbstruck. That was it! He could use Eggman’s weapons against him! Man, wouldn’t that be sweet revenge. Boomer looked up and around. The caribou medic watched him, making sure he left. Boomer waved and kept walking._

_His mind raced with ideas. He could collect badniks during the night when the crews were gone, remove and tinker with their weaponry to create handheld weapons for his people. And then, when Eggman came to attack again, they would be ready. No more warriors had to die. Families wouldn’t have to be torn apart by violence. It seemed like a great idea, but something felt wrong._

***

Rotor panted as the battleground disappeared from his mind’s eye. He was back in his workshop, sitting on the floor leaning on a crate. His heart raced and he felt weak, like he’d been swimming against a strong current. He felt like he was drowning in emotions. The same rage that had filled him that night, filled him again now.

He put his clammy hand to his forehead, closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths, trying to calm the stormy seas of his heart, body, and mind. Rotor forced his muscles to relax. Okay Rotor. Calm down. Rage doesn’t help anything.

KABLAMO! A sudden flash of light and sudden shock thunder startled Rotor. He panicked internally and gripped the chest strap of his utility bag. That’s right. He was in the middle of a battle. He had to help Sally. He had to do his part and build a signal jammer to stop the drones’ coordinated attacks. He had to stand up, to get up, he had to grab tools and he had to, and he, and he…

The emotions in his heart still pounded like surf in a gale. His mind was only working at half-capacity. His body was weak and unsteady. This wasn’t okay! He had to help, but he just simply couldn’t get up. If only he could just shut off the emotions and deal with them later. Now was not the time for him to lose his mind. Just forget about it all. Forget about Eggman and Apa and the snow…

“This isn’t the end of the story,” spoke a voice in his mind.

There was simply nothing for it. Rotor had been afraid to admit it. He’d been trying to stop this storm that inundated his heart and mind, but he couldn’t. The only way to make it to safe harbor was to brave the storm. He had to face the memories of the events that made him who he was and set him on the course of his life.

“Just ride it out,” Rotor told himself as the memories returned. “You can make it. Just ride it out.”

***

_Boomer sat in the dark tent at the edge of town set up around an ice-fishing hole. Opposite of the fishing pole sat Elder Katmai, sitting on a stool smoking a pipe. Boomer fidgeted as Elder Katmai stared at him, boring a hole through his soul._

_“The Tikano and the Koko Wolf Tribes have turned against one another,” Elder Katmai said bluntly._

_“What?!” asked Boomer. The Elder continued. He spoke slowly, pausing between each sentence. Boomer hung onto every word he said._

_“The Eska sea lion tribe drove the Nukka seal tribe out of their ancestral territory. The Sakari caribou tribe attacked the human settlements on the mainland. The Miki hares and the Sesi Ptarmigans have long since moved away eastward into the mountains where they are safer. In our own tribe, there is talk of fighting our island brothers so that they might share some of their food with us. But everyone knows, they have less than we do.”_

_“Are you serious? Is this all really actually happening?”_

_“Serious as the grave.”_

_“Wh—why is this happening?”_

_“Your weapons.”_

_“My weapons? What do you mean?”_

_“Over the past eight years, you have made weapons—many weapons, dangerous weapons, weapons that require little skill to wield—and given them to all of the Northern tribes. Now the ranks of True Warriors are growing thin. And the attack? The second invasion of Eggman we have been worrying about? The attack that never happened? The worries, the fears, rumors, and threats of it have made the Peoples restless and anxious, snapping at each other for the smallest of slights. Conflicts that used to be solved through peaceful means now are solved through violence. Tribes have turned against each other. Families have turned against families and against themselves. Brothers now fight brothers.”_

_“And it is all because of… my weapons?” Boomer asked. The Elder nodded. Boomer was horrified. He’d supplied his people to fight a war… against Eggman… but instead they fought a war… against each other and themselves._

_“Our way of life is built on strength and independence but also taking care of each other,” the Elder continued. “We must work together to survive. If we don’t, we will die. With this hard winter coming… I fear for our people, Boomer. I am afraid we will not survive.”_

_“I’ll do whatever I can to help! I’ll—”_

_“It is too late.”_

_“What do you mean? Why do you say that?”_

_“News that the unity of the Northern Peoples has self-destructed has reached The South. And…” Elder Katmai’s voice trailed off as he bounced the fishing pole lightly on the stand. Boomer waited, his heart filling with dread._

_“Eggman has heard!” said Elder Katmai darkly._

_“WHAT?!”_

_“Yes. He has broken his long silence and now sends an invading force twice the size of the one he sent eight years ago.”_

_It was as if Boomer had been pushed off the seawall into the dark and stormy sea. The icy waters shocked him. Boomer couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t move. Elder Katmai continued._

_“What do you have to say for yourself?”_

_“What… have I done?” Rotor covered his mouth with his hands. “I… I—this isn’t what I intended! I did what I did for the common good! To protect all of Arctica! I didn’t mean… oh what have I done? What have I done?”_

_“You have done enough damage,” Elder Katmai rose from his small stool. “As of now, Boomer Alyeska, you are no longer a free man. You are being apprehended and detained until such a time when you can face trial—if any of us lives that long.”_

***

Rotor wiped his eyes. Raw pain cut his through his chest like a knife as he remembered the horror of that night. The guilt. The shame. The fear. It was his worst moment. The moment he realized what he had truly done: doomed everyone he loved to enslavement or death at the hands of his most hated foe.

Rotor cried.

But even though he cried, he did not despair.

But this was not the end of the story.

Even though his life had fallen apart around him, even though nothing would ever be the same again, even though he and his family faced death, not all was lost.

Rotor knew what was coming next. And it gave him hope.

True, he still faced the darkest night of his life, but he remembered the truth his father had once told him: the night is always darkest just before the dawn. Rotor steeled himself to face the darkness because he held in his heart the promise of dawn.

“Just Keep going. Victory is coming!” Rotor said. “If you’re in the fire, keep going.”

***

_It was obvious Boomer had escaped his jail cell. He stood in easy view of the entire United Northern Army with his Electromagnetic Pulse Generator posted at the edge of town waiting for the enemy to get into position. Building stuff was what had gotten him in trouble in the first place. Would this machine get him out of the hole he’d dug for himself or would it dig it deeper? Only time would tell. In just a few seconds, the enemy army would be in position…_

_Boomer pulled the lever down with so much force it broke off the generator. A ring of purple light blasted out from the discharger antenna in a shockwave. Boomer was thrown back from the generator as if he’d been struck by lightning._

_The electromagnetic pulse passed harmlessly through all of the living creatures of the Northern Army, but it powered down every single electrical device it touched. All of the army’s blasters and laser cannons and taser grenades powered down with a collective hum and a few puffs of sparks and smoke. The badniks that raced along the snow powered down, tipped over and crashed into each other. The flying badniks dropped like boulders into the ground and many exploded. The badniks piled up in a massive mountain of mechanical rubble at the foot of the Northern Army._

_The next few moments were filled with crashing noises and explosions. The warriors backed away and shielded their faces. The sounds of destruction quieted. Then there was silence as the morning wind blew away the smoke. The entire badnik army was destroyed._

_And so the battle was over, before it had even begun._

_The warriors of the entire Northern Army looked to the source of the mysterious shockwave. They looked and saw Boomer standing free in the village next to the generator._

_“Oh!” Boomer gasped when he realized everyone was looking at him. He took a deep breath and got on top of the generator._

_He hadn’t planned to do it, but it seemed like the right thing to do. Words flowed from his heart and out of his mouth, words he hadn’t expected, words he hadn’t yet thought through, but they were ideas he had felt in his heart and soul. And in the loudest voice he could muster, he said:_

_“I hereby declare in the presence of all these witnesses that I, the eldest son of Kenai Alyeska, will never again build another weapon for as long as I live. I dedicate my life to helping other people. No longer will I be called Boomer the Weapons Master; I now change my name to Rotor Alyeska.”_

_The wind carried his voice over the tundra through the army and out to sea where even the shrimp, krill, and fish heard him. Rotor smiled. He had done it! He had turned his worst failure into his greatest victory._

***

Rotor came back into himself. His heart had quieted. No longer did emotions boil and surge, but neither were they completely gone. It had been a long time since he’d thought about the events of that night. All of the events. And here he was, reliving them with such clarity it was as if time had repeated itself.

Thinking, remembering why he had done what he had done—why he vowed to never again build weapons, why he dedicated his life to helping people, why he’d changed his name—it was… refreshing. Rotor got up from the floor. Outside, the battle was heating up. Blaster fire resounded every few seconds. People shouted and ran. The bells of the city rang in alarm.

Here Rotor was, facing his sworn enemy in battle once again, confronted with the same choice from long ago:

Fifteen-year-old Boomer stood on the battlefield where his father died, contemplating revenge…

Twenty-five-year-old Rotor stood on the battlefield were his friends lived, remembering his vow to help people…

Rotor smiled. This was a whole new beginning. He had been awakened. He was different now. He’d learned from his mistakes. This time, he was going to help people.

“The story isn’t over,” he murmured and went to work.

***

_All of the seats around the bonfire pit were occupied. It looked like most of the village had turned out for Rotor’s sentencing, as well as many from other tribes who had a vested interest in Rotor’s actions and fate. Elder Katmai stood on the firepit cover, which served as a sort of stage, talking through the path to their decision. Rotor waited with bated breath for the words that would dictate the rest of his life…_

_“Rotor has testified his repentance and also shown it by his actions. He made hard choices, acted selflessly to prevent the battle from occurring and help stop the strife between the tribes. That being said, he cannot remain unpunished. By the discussion and vote of the Elders, with guidance from the Lady herself, we have come to a decision. Rotor Alyeska, son of Kenai Alyeska, in the presence of these witnesses, you are hereby sentenced to banishment from Arctica effective midnight tonight until such a time when it is deemed you may return.” Some people cheered. Some people grumbled. Rotor stood resolutely._

_“I accept that,” Rotor said bowing his head._

***

All the rest was history. Rotor spent one last day with his family then jumped into the sea. He swam for—he once calculated—six months, and ended up on the shores of the Hidden Valley. King Max and the villagers had welcomed him, given him a place to stay, helped him heal, and he’d wholeheartedly taken up his new mission to help people. Don’t seek revenge, seek to help. He served them as a mechanic and engineer, building—not weapons—but tools, homes, household appliances, even toys for the children of the Valley.

Rotor stood and looked at his handiwork, the signal jammer, mounted upon a generator not unlike the EMP generator he had built not two years prior. And just like the EMP generator, the signal jammer could not hurt people, only degrade the robot’s operations and abilities. Hopefully enough to give the fighters the upper hand.

It only took ten years.

It had been ten years since his father died; Rotor was finally doing what he’d been called to do: use his talents—the right way—to defy Eggman. He felt energized, excited, hopeful. This was the new beginning he’d been waiting for. What might the future hold for Rotor?

“I know one thing the future holds,” Rotor grinned as he mightily gripped the sides of the generator. “Victory!”

He started rocking the generator back and forth toward the door to walk it out into the fray.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: Taking the High Road is expensive, but what is the cost?
> 
> And yes, KABLAMO is my favorite word. After SUDDENLY, of course.
> 
> ***
> 
> The air is filled with the sparkles of icy fog. The moon, a thin sliver, like a fingernail sits high in the sky shining a faint pillar of light down onto the still forest like a spotlight. They all—my readers, my friends, my brothers and sisters in the fandom—you sit in a cabin together, reading, talking, and laughing, in the warm glow of the fire.
> 
> Making camp in a patch of spruce trees, I wonder. When I travel through life, making my lonely way through the wildlands from The Last Chapter to The Next Chapter, does anyone notice when I take longer than I ought to? Do any of my friends in the cabin notice my absence? Do they miss me? Do they worry? 
> 
> As I eat my bread and drink my tea, wrapped in a blanket next to the fire, I remember that to be honest, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if nobody listens or reads or reacts to my stories. They are still valid. They are valid because I had something to say, a story to tell, a message to give, and I did the hard thing and spoke up. I did my duty and that is all that matters. And I’m happy to do it. While it is my solemn charge to say what I have to say, to walk the lonely mountain paths from Last Chapter to The Next Chapter—I’ll let you in on a little secret—I love it. 
> 
> Even though I walk The Way alone, even though the paths are difficult or desolate, I enjoy every step. I enjoy the peace of solitude, every sunrise that no one else sees but me, I love witnessing adventures unfold and chronicling them. And that’s why I keep doing it. I smile at my tent, my fire, my book and pen, the clear sky, pristine landscape around me, the hope and potential of Tomorrow… and I love it all.
> 
> But! If anyone is indeed at the cabin, awaiting the next chapter, maybe feeling annoyed or disappointed or worried that I will never return, that there will never be a Next Chapter, know this:
> 
> I didn’t forget this story! I didn’t forget you! I will get there. I will arrive at the cabin sooner or later waving a completed copy of the next chapter shouting “I’ve got it! Here’s what happens next! Come and see! This is for you!” 
> 
> I am sorry when I am not timely—the flight of fancy refuses to adhere to schedule! I may be enjoying the adventure, taking side trips to other stories, working hard to interpret the runestones of backstory I come across, or exploring the many paths marked by cairn stones as I wonder “which way should my story take?” I may be struggling with the deep snow of difficult edits, the storm winds of life that stop my progress and must simply be endured, or I may be lost and trying to find my way back to the path. Of course, it may be that I am late simply because I am slow—I do not walk at the same pace as the rest of the world, I travel at my own pace. Everything I do is in my own time.
> 
> So when you are annoyed or disappointed or worried that I will not return, see me with your mind’s eye joyfully traipsing amongst the pines and boulders and shale-covered slopes through valleys and peaks and caves and cloudlands shouting to you from the distance “I am coming! I will return to you! As sure as the sun rises, sooner or later, I will be there!”


	6. Battle for the Workshop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beetles realized the door was metal and therefore conducted electricity. They didn’t have to all shoot Rotor, they just had to shoot the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, this is a very intense chapter full of battle scenes.
> 
> Also, try not to get any weird ideas about Sally and Rotor--I don't ship them; they just happen to be working closely together.

Rotor bolted the jammer housing to the stand outside his workshop. He kicked the smoking remains of a beetle out from underfoot. Next to the dead beetle lay the murder weapon, Rotor’s fabled Mother Of All Wrenches, an 18-inch long 1-1/2 inch combination wrench. The remaining three beetles were nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d scared them off when he’d smashed that last one. Who knew? Once he got the jammer running, he wouldn’t have to worry about the other three.

Boom! Rotor flinched and his head jerked upward from his work. A white burst of flame faded rapidly and a puff of smoke rose from behind a hill. Something had exploded in Cypress Village. Distant shouting indicated something was going down there. Blaster shots fired throughout the villages and the city in random bursts. Sometimes he thought he heard the clangs of swords and other close-combat weaponry. The more Rotor tried to mentally block out the sounds of the battle, the more he heard. 

“Calm down. Whatever’s going on out there is not my immediate problem,” Rotor reminded himself. “Just keep assembling, you’re almost done!” Despite having made weapons in his former life, he’d never actually experienced a full-blown enemy attack before. The last one he stopped before it even started. 

“Too bad I don’t have the parts for another EMP,” he mumbled as he attached the cannon plugs to the static array. There was an unusually long moment of silence in the valley and Rotor paused. Was the battle over?

A woman screamed and Rotor jumped backward and involuntarily threw his hands up in the air. The shooting continued, this time by multiple individuals in three-shot bursts. Rotor searched the direction the scream came from but whatever was going on was beyond view. He jerked his attention back to his work.

“Don’t think about any of that! Last thing to do is connect the power cord and fire away.” 

Neeeeeoooowww! Poof! A blaster bolt zipped dangerously close to Rotor’s face before popping into the wall leaving a dark burn mark.

“Ah!” Rotor clapped his hand to his face as the edges of his mustache smoked. “What the—!” The three remaining smallniks in the squad had returned.

A beetle buzzed close by his face but didn’t attack. Rotor swatted at it with his large and heavy clawed hand, but missed. He was grabbed from behind by two beetles, one on each arm.

“Ack! Get away from me!” Rotor yelped. “Let me go!” The two beetles tried to lift him, but even straining with all their might, they could not. “Hehe. I guess that’s one good thing about being a bit blubbery,” Rotor chuckled, “it makes you harder to kidnap.”

The third beetle hovered noisily in front of his face. The downdraft of the propeller kicked up the dust at Rotor’s feet. He squinted his eyes. The beetle reached out toward his face with one electrified foot. Rotor tried to kick the beetle, but it hovered too high to reach and his leg wasn’t flexible enough. 

“No no no no!” Rotor turned his face away and leaned back. The beetle seemed to follow his mustache with the electrified foot. What was trying to do, pet it?

KABLAMO! The beetle jolted sideways and clattered to the ground with a gaping, smoking hole where its head was. 

“Ooooh man!” Rotor said. “What just—”

“Don’t worry, I got your back, Rotor!” Sally shouted as she ran up the hill, her blaster rapidly recharging.

“Princess Sally!”

BANG!

Rotor’s left arm was free. Sally aimed a third time at the last beetle, but Rotor held up his hand.

“Hold up! I got this one!”

Rotor grabbed the beetle on his arm with his opposite hand and squeezed, crumpling its outer shell. The beetle let go and twitched. Rotor dropped it on the ground and sat on it, crushing it with his bodyweight. He jumped up and dusted himself off.

“Hehe, you got what you deserved, scrap heap!” Sally told the flattened beetle pancake.

“Those were some good shots, Sally,” said Rotor. “I didn’t realize you were such a good shot!”

“Thanks. Captain St. John is a pretty strict instructor. And uh, nice… um…”

“Squashing? Come on, you can say it.”

“Your words not mine.” Sally laughed. Rotor collected the damaged drones in his arms. 

“What are you doing with those?”

“I’m going to stash them in my workshop so I can dig through their programming later, you know, see what I can find out about our adversary.” 

“That’s actually a really good idea. Do you think you can even when they’re so damaged?”

“We’ll find out!” Rotor said waddling into the shop, leaving a trail of sheared bolts, melted wiring, and scraps of twisted metal behind him. He returned momentarily, waving his hand in front of his face. 

“Ugh, what’s that smell?” Rotor asked. Sally pointed to the dribbles of discolored wetness running down his front. “Yuck! Did that come from those drones I was carrying? That smells like—”

“Rotten eggs,” Sally finished for him. Rotor snapped his fingers.

“Oh of course! The big guy’s name is Eggman… hehe, I guess I never expected him to be so literal.”

“Okay, let’s focus. What do you need?”

“Time to finish setting up the jammer. And then protection. This baby will work as long nothing attacks and damages it.”

“You got it.”

“You be careful, Sally!”

“You get cracking, Rotor!” Rotor laughed. It was their first egg joke and he doubted it would be their last.

Rotor pulled the long fat extension cord off of the wooden stakes in the wall and flopped it on the floor. He grabbed the business end and tugged the cord across the workshop, out the door and plugged it into the jammer. He plugged the other end into the industrial outlet on the outside wall of the workshop.

“Aaaand, now time for the moment of truth!” Rotor pulled down the handle on the jammer. It hummed to life and glowed. 

“HAHA! SHE LIVES!” Rotor shouted victoriously. He ran inside and turned on the radio. Static. He turned on the TV. Static. He checked the computer’s local wireless network. No signal.

“IT’S WORKING! WOOHOO!” He shouted. Rotor ran back outside and looked for evidence of discombobulated beetles. Sure enough, the squads separated and the beetles began to fly around individually in seemingly random directions. Two collided mid-air and exploded over the road to Cypress Village. It appeared his guess was correct. When deprived of higher-level communicated master commands, the beetles reverted to their lower-level pre-programming which made them less-effective fighters easier to combat.

The beetles rose up into the sky like a swarm of drunken bats and generally migrated northward. Volleys of blaster shots shot into the sky throughout the valley and felled a number of beetles.

“You did it!” Sally shouted, rejoining Rotor. “Rotor, you stopped the beetles!”

“Yeah! And I did it without breaking my vow!”

“Now this here,” Sally pointed skyward, “is simple moving target practice!” She fired several blasts toward the conglomeration. Two bots dropped and crashed into the grass and a third lost weapons capabilities. “This is skeet shooting! Here, you wanna try?” Sally held out her blaster toward Rotor. He held up his hands.

“Uh, no thanks, I’ll pass.” Sally fired several more times and Rotor watched the buzzing cloud as it circled from its northerly track back southward toward the village and the city. Sally paused her shots. 

“Uh… where do you think they’re going?” She asked with an edge of concern to her voice.

“Well, at first, I thought they were returning to their origination point in the north forest, but now it looks like…” Rotor whipped out his tracker from somewhere on his person. “Aww fishsticks! The jammer’s blocking my signal! I should write a programming patch to prevent that.”

“Look up not down!” Sally yelled. “You don’t need a tracker to tell that they’re headed this way!” She grabbed Rotor’s arm arm and yanked him toward a random boulder.

“Yikes!” Rotor accidentally dropped the tracker in the grass and left it behind. They ducked behind the boulder. “Part of their baser programming must be to attack the source of the signal jamming!” Rotor explained. “I should have figured they’d have something like that written in their software!”

“Are you saying that ALL OF THEM are coming here to destroy your jammer?”

“Mmmmm… probably. Yeah.”

“ALL OF THEM ARE COMING HERE!?” 

“Yeah, they are! We’d better get out of here!” Rotor took one step away. 

“Wait!” Sally exclaimed. “If they’re all coming to this one place… do you have anything that could take them all out at once?”

“Like an EMP? No, I—”

“No, like a giant bomb.”

“WHAT?! No! No weapons! I don’t do that anymore.”

“Nuts! In that case, I need a way to signal the militia—”

“Shh!” Rotor hushed. “Get down!” He shielded Sally with his body.

Several beetles kamikaze dove with a whistling sound. 

KAAA-BLAAAAM! 

A white light and shockwave exploded outward. Shrapnel sprayed in every direction and ricocheted off the boulder. Sally and Rotor’s ears popped with the changing air pressure. Rotor stayed huddled over Sally until she pushed against him and he moved. They sat up and peered around the boulder. 

The signal jammer housing was completely gone and the stand was severely warped and partially melted. Glass from the blown-out shop windows littered the blackened ground. There was a significant dent in the workshop door, but the heavy metal had stood fast. Of course, it had. Rotor had built the workshop to be able to withstand explosions. High above the workshop, the beetles flew lazily, no doubt restarting and reconnecting to their network. They began arranging themselves back into squads of three or four. Sally took a quick count. Twenty-one beetles remained. 

“I thought we’d taken out more than that!” Sally said disappointed. 

“Get shooting,” Rotor shouted running forward.

“I can’t. They’re too high up. Wait, what are you doing?” 

The power cord which had powered the machine now lay six feet shorter, the end sizzling and snapping with exposed live wires. Rotor made a large circle around it to the outlet and yanked the plug out of it.

Sally looked back up at the sky, the beetles in their squads descended rapidly toward Rotor and the workshop.

“Rotor, come back to the boulder!” Sally shouted. “They’re—”

“I see them. I’m coming!”

“Princess Sally are you—” Captain St. John asked racing uphill toward them followed by a wave of militiamen.

“Get back! Stay back!” Sally commanded and pointed upward. Captain St. John looked up and stopped. 

“Back to cover!” Captain St. John ordered his troops pointing back. “Get out of the open!”

The cloud of beetles slowed and descended on the roof of the workshop. Rotor and Sally watched from behind the boulder. One single beetle crawled through the door of the workshop.

“They’re not attacking!” Sally said. “What are they…?” Moments later, the beetle exited carrying Rotor’s box of miscellaneous hardware.

“Why would they want that?” Sally puzzled. The rest of the beetles crawled swarming disorderly into the narrow opening of the workshop sliding door.

“It looks like they’re stealing my stuff. I think they’re going to try and build something,” Rotor said. “One of the beetles I put in the workshop must have restarted when all the others did and told them what was in there. Now they’re all trying to find and steal stuff.”

“And whatever they wanna build, I bet it isn’t good,” Sally said. 

“Oh man, oh man, oh man! I may not be building a weapon but those nasty little guys are using my stuff to do it themselves!”

“Shh! Calm down! We’ll figure this out!” Sally said.

“We can’t let this happen! I’ve seen all the things Eggman can make and there are some pretty scary weapons out there! I won’t let him hurt the people I care about again!”

“Hold on! We can think through this together!”

“I’ve got an idea! Stay put and don’t do anything crazy.”

“You’re telling ME that? Hey! Don’t even think about it. You stay put!”

“Sorry, Sally!” Rotor sprang up and ran. All of the beetles were in one spot. Inside his workshop. They had trapped themselves. Rotor just needed to close the door.

Sally had asked if he had a giant bomb. Not exactly, but he did have several bottles of highly flammable liquid oxygen—or lox as he called it. All they needed to do was shoot one, burst it, and it would cause a chain reaction exploding all of the beetles. Sure, it would destroy everything in the shop, but the building would stand. He’d built it not just to survive, but to contain any explosion. He could stop twenty-one problems from continuing to cause chaos. 

But would that be breaking his vow? Turning the shop into a giant bomb was kinda sorta very much dangerous to people. Well maybe he didn’t have to explode it. He could just trap the beetles and figure out what to do later. Maybe he could build another EMP…? Don’t worry about that! There’s not enough time to figure it out! All he had to do was just close the door.

Rotor ran up to the door and gripped the long bar that served as the handle. He exhaled and pressed his weight against the door. With a deep boom, it began to move along the track. Inside, the beetles buzzed and clattered. A few noticed the door closing and were alarmed. They shot blasts toward Rotor. One hit his exposed knee. He stumbled and fell on all fours then rolled back behind the cover of the heavy metal door. He stood back up, his left leg shaky, and pushed against the door again, trying to keep the door’s momentum up. Good thing he hadn’t opened it all the way. Only eight feet to go.

Two beetles crawled out of the door toward Rotor, jaws glowing. Spontaneously, they exploded and dropped to the ground, one on the door’s track and the other just inside the door. Sally must have shot them. Only six feet to go.

Zzzzap!

Rotor yelped as his arm zinged as if he’d hit his funny bone. It dropped to his side, paralyzed and tingling. His arm must have absorbed one of the electric blasts of a beetle. Rotor shoved his shoulder into the handle. Four feet to go.

“Hrrr! Almost!” Multiple beetles scuttled out the door.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! More beetles dropped to the ground or flew back inside.

Rotor glanced up. Sally stood fifteen feet away from the door covering the beetles with blaster fire in order to keep them inside. If nothing else, they were bottlenecking the beetles and picking them off. 

ZZZAP! ZZZAP! Multiple beetles blasted the door. Rotor groaned as electricity surged through the door and into his body. He had a lot of blubber and mass and could take a lot of blows, but even he had a limit, and his strength was failing. But he couldn’t stop. The beetles were up to something terrible. There had been enough suffering in that day, enough suffering in one generation to last the world for centuries. He may not be able to stop Eggman’s attack on the world, but maybe he could stop the attack of this one village.

“Rotor stay down! I got this!” Sally shouted, but he knew she didn’t. Her blaster only had so much juice, already it was failing, the blasts were rapidly weakening and it took longer and longer to recharge between every shot. More beetles tried to exit the door than she could shoot away. She put on a brave face, but Rotor could tell she was scared.

Zzzzap! Zzzzap! Zzzap! The beetles shot through the door toward Sally. She flipped and dodged. One of them shot the blaster out of her hand with a well-aimed shot. She pulled out her scimitar and her expression changed, from fear, to one of a warrior. There she was, the young princess, brave enough to stand alone against a swarm of badniks to save her valley and her friends. Rotor was awed.

“YAAAAAH!” Sally war cried. She charged forward; sword outstretched amid the hail of blasts. 

But something was wrong. The sword dropped from her hand; she staggered, fell wordlessly, and lay still.

“SALLY!” Rotor screamed. He reached out his hand. It was struck with a blast. He grunted and held his arm to his chest.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! KATHUNK! Rotor felt wind in his mustache as a beetle dropped in front of him narrowly missing falling on his head. He flinched and covered his head as two beetles jerked backward off the door and back into the workshop. He looked up. It was Captain St. John and the rest of the militia! Backup had arrived! Yes! They may have a chance yet.

Captain St. John slid to a halt next to Sally and covered her with his body. The militiamen each posted behind cover and rained fire on the beetles attempting to leave the workshop. One beetle managed to get airborne with a wiring harness in its grip.

BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! Multiple troops fired upon the beetle, which dropped on the roof and rolled off to the side. The rest of the beetles cease-fired and retreated back inside the workshop, where they milled about noisily. One of them cut the power and all the lights in the shop darkened. The militia paused their fire as Captain St. John dragged Sally out from in front the workshop. 

Sally groaned and reached her hand up to her face. Already, she was awakening. It seemed that the stunning effect of the blasts was short-lived. 

“Haha! Good old Sally, a true fighter!” Rotor said happily.

“Stop dragging me. Let me go!” Sally waved her arm. “I can walk.”

“No! You’re hurt! Lie still!”

“Give me your weapon, I can still fight!” Sally argued and rolled over onto her hands and knees. She tipped forward as her right arm failed to hold any weight.

“Whoah, my arm is numb. That’s new.”

“Sit back. Let me see,” Captain St. John urged. He unclipped his field medic kit off his belt. 

ZAP-ZAP-ZAP-ZAP-ZAP-ZAP-ZAP! A wall of blasts erupted from the narrow opening in the doorway that remained. Immediately, the militiamen resumed firing. Captain St. John kicked out with her heavy booted foot at the legs of Rotor’s outdoor worktable. Two legs snapped out of position and the table collapsed on its side, providing cover for him and Sally.

The militiamen took heavy fire and were pinned down. Sally was injured and out of commission. Captain St. John wasn’t in a good position to fire back. The battle wasn’t over yet. It was clear to Rotor that amongst all of the people there, the only one who wasn’t a fighter was the only one who could stop the fight. He was the only one who could stop the battle.

Rotor’s wasn’t sure he could do what needed to be done. His muscles trembled; it took all his strength not to collapse on the ground and pass out. The door was still open by 18 inches. He needed to close it 8-10 inches more, just enough so that the gap was too small for the beetles to fit through.

Maybe this was his destiny, the whole reason the Lady of Lights led him to this specific valley. Maybe, regretfully, it wasn’t his job to save the world, but maybe he could save this one valley. All the beetles were in his workshop, he just needed to close the door and trap them. Then he—or someone else if need be—could figure out a way to destroy them.

Rotor rose to a kneeling position. His eyes locked with Sally. 

“No!” She mouthed, gripping her limp right arm with her trembling left. 

His mind flashed back to his trial.

“Rotor Alyeska, we sentence you to exile,” the elder said. They had been fair, but merciful. He deserved so much more for his transgressions, for nearly destroying the Tundra Lands. Maybe this was the universe’s justice. To die in a foreign land to save a people. 

Rotor looked up at the twilight sky. He couldn’t see Lady Aurora’s flowing green gowns, but through the smoky haze, he saw one star, but it was enough.

“Our Lady of the Night,” he said quietly. “Grant me the strength to carry out my task!” Rotor stood and leaned heavily against the edge of the doorway. He pushed with all the strength remaining in his powerful body. There was a bright flash as the beetles all fired at one target: Rotor. Sally covered her eyes. It was over in an instant.

Rotor’s body thumped to the ground and lay still. 

“NOOOO!” Sally wailed. “ROTOR!”

“BOMB!” Someone yelled. Captain St. John covered Sally with his body. An explosion ripped through the air as a beetle self-destructed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dang. I keep adding chapters to this thing. I write a chapter and invariably end up splitting it in half because it gets too long. But I guess of all the problems to have while writing a story, this isn't a bad one. It just means more story for the both of us, haha!


	7. What You Choose To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally loses her head and her confidence.

Everything was muffled.

Sally opened her eyes. Through the thick smoke, the sky above looked a sinister red.

Something heavy draped across her body making it difficult to breath. She shoved it with her one good arm and twisted herself out from under it. Heavily, the mass shifted off her body and flopped on the ground next to her. Sally lay on her back sucking in the dirty air, grateful to breathe freely again. Her body felt heavy and drained and everything hurt. Except her arm, which was numb, but she couldn’t remember why.

Turning her head, she looked at the thing she’d moved off herself. It was a person laying on their side facing away from her. The white hair and black fur were distinctive, the uniform familiar, the green scarf and beret unmistakable.

It was Geoffrey St. John.

Was he alive? Yes, yes, he was breathing, she observed. There was no obvious blood around him; he was just unconscious.

Someone’s face suddenly appeared above hers as they bent over. They said something, but Sally couldn’t understand what.

 _What? Sorry, I can’t hear._ Sally tried to say. She pushed herself up to a sitting position. The soldier moved over to Geoffrey St. John, quickly examined him, and appeared to call for help.

About fifteen feet away, smoke drifted upward from a large black scorch mark. Twisted bits of metal littered the ground around the mark. A number of soldiers lay haphazard in the grass where they were thrown by the blast. The remaining soldiers and a handful of civilians assisted the fallen. The valley’s defense force was small to begin with, but now it was halved.

One particular crew of civilians—Sally recognized as the city’s volunteer medics— moved past in slow motion, their voices and actions muted. She followed them with her eyes as they headed toward a huddle of people bent over a strange bulky form. Who was that…?

Sally suddenly remembered everything that had happened. The badnik attack on the valley, Sally defying her father’s orders, Rotor’s jammer, the battle for the workshop, getting shot in the arm, and…

Rotor’s sacrifice.

She was suddenly electrified with fear. Forgetting her exhaustion and pain, she crawled toward him.

“Rotor!” She called. “Is he okay? Is he alive?” Then she figured, he must be! They wouldn’t be crowded around him if he was dead. Someone knelt beside her, wrapped their arms around her, holding her back.

“Hold on,” Sally vaguely heard.

“No! Let me go! He’s hurt! The beetles shot him!”

She couldn’t see him clearly—too many people! Too much stuff in the way! She tried to make out his shape through the shadowy conglomeration in the smokey, dusky clearing. All she could make out was his hand, cast out to the side, palm up, his purple fingers limply curled upward in his fingerless yellow gloves. His whole arm moved, like it was swaying gently back and forth.

“They’re counting,” Sally said, her eyes fixed on his hand, watching it move. “Why are they counting?”

“…trying to help him!”

His hand stopped moving momentarily as someone bent over him. They sat up again and the swaying of his hand continued. Sally pressed forward against the arms of her captor.

“Let me go! Let me go to him! He’s my friend.”

“…have to stay back!”

Sally reached out her one good arm toward Rotor as her strength failed and she sagged against the solid body that bear-hugged her.

“Let me be there for him!”

“You are doing a good job. You are a good friend.”

Another person approached carrying a bag. They seemed to move in slow-motion.

‘Hurry up!’ Sally urged in her mind. She watched them kneel near his arm and open the bag. His arm stopped swaying.

“What are they—”

Everyone jumped away. For a second, she had a clear view of him before his entire body arched, fingers stiffening like he was clawing the air, and then went limp again. Like vultures the people sprang forward toward him again.

“Aii!” She cried and flinched. The arms squeezed her tighter for a moment.

“I’ve got you!”

“Sonic!” She exclaimed. “Rotor’s hurt!”

“I’m not Sonic…”

“ _Clear!_ ” Rotor’s body arched again.

Sally pressed against the arms once more, stronger this time, pushing against the ground behind her with her feet.

“I’ve got you. It’s okay. Calm down.”

_“…isn’t working…”_

“He’s dying, isn’t he?” Sally said, once again yielding to the strong arms. Her ears fell back and her tail drooped. Rotor’s arm lay still in the burnt grass.

“Hold on, _princesa,_ they’re trying something else.”

“Come on Rotor! Don’t do this to me! Breathe!”

“Come on! Come on! Not today, helper!”

“… _anything?_ ”

“ _Not yet!_ ”

 _Come on, Rotor! Breath!_ Sally begged, unable to speak the words out loud.

_For me!_

The whole world went silent and utterly still. Sally strained to hear any sign, even the smallest sign. She watched his motionless hand on the ground.

And then… there it was. A gasp. And then another. Rotor coughed weakly and he withdrew his hand, by his own power, to his chest.

All at once, Sally could hear again. The world seemed to return to normal speed and volume. Everything grew brighter and less sinisterly red. She inhaled deeply and breathed a sig of relief. Like a wave the adrenalin left her body and she relaxed.

“Okay. Okay. He’s okay,” she said. “You can let go of me now.” The arms around her let go.

“You sure you’re good, _princesa?_ ”

She looked at the one who stayed by her side. It was Corporal Javier the chupacabra as he called himself (but Sally was pretty sure he was actually coyote). He looked at her worriedly.

“Yes, I’m good,” she replied sitting back. “I’m okay, Rotor’s okay,” she put her hand on his shoulder and smiled. “Everything is going to be okay.”

Behind her she heard the voice of Sergeant Ornan, the Wildebeest, second in command to Geoffrey St. John.

“See to the princess. She’s dazed and confused. Probably has a concussion.” Sally stood, dusted herself off and approached Sergeant Ornan and two medics. They critically watched her approach.

“It’s okay, guys, I’m alright,” she said.

“Forgive me if I do not believe you, my lady,” Sergeant Ornan bowed.

“I understand where you’re coming from. I’ll admit, I lost my head there for a minute, but I’m back now. Please, go take care of the others who are more injured first.” She motioned to Geoffrey St. John and the injured militiamen.

“I would prefer that—”

“I know, I know,” Sally resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “You want me to return to Neopolis. Please just give me a few minutes. Let me sit by my friend’s side, okay?” He thought for a moment then nodded once.

“That would be acceptable, my lady.”

“Thank you, sir. You are most kind.” Sally curtseyed and hurried to Rotor.

“Princess!” said Harper Opossum backing away to make room for Sally. “He’s asking for you!”

“Let’s give them a minute, okay?” Harper said and led her partners some distance away.

Sally dropped next to Rotor.

“Sally!” Rotor gasped. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay, Rotor! You’re okay too.”

“Did I do it?” Rotor asked grasping her hand. “Did I stop them? Did I close the door?”

Sally looked up at the workshop. The door remained open by a foot and a half. Inside was dark and quiet. A soldier carrying a lantern exited, sliding sideways through the opening.

“They’re gone,” Specialist Benjo the Raccoon Dog reported quietly to Staff Sergeant Ornan. “The workshop is ransacked and stripped. All of the nasty little buggers are gone, flown off north carrying the equipment.”

Sally looked back at Rotor. He stared at her expectantly, analyzing her expression. Crestfallen, she shook her head. Rotor’s face crumpled with dismay.

“Oh.”

Sally struggled to find words of comfort for her injured friend, but none came. Maybe it was the concussion, or the effects of the trauma of the battle and Rotor’s near death, or her fears that rose up inside her now that she was tired… her confidence melted away.

She had been so sure of herself earlier! So sure that she could follow her calling, stop the battle and save her people, but now, it seemed like an impossible task. The Acorn Kingdom’s defensive forces were few, inexperienced, unprepared, and now many were injured and unable to fight. Their enemy was far more numerous and superior. They still had yet to fight and defeat any of the three adversaries, the beetles, the thundernik, and the wildfire.

Only Sally and the few remaining warriors stood in the way of their destruction. How could they ever hope to survive?

“What is it?” Rotor asked.

Sally looked away. She didn’t want to talk about it. Rotor had just almost died! She should be comforting him, not the other way around.

“Come on, you can tell me!”

“I wish that Sonic were here!” Sally burst out. Then she looked a little sheepish. She ought to be grateful Rotor that she still had Rotor, not whining about who she didn’t have!

“It’s okay, Princess Sally,” Rotor comforted. “I know you love him. This has been a hard night for everyone.”

“If he were here, maybe you wouldn’t have gotten hurt, the beetles could have been defeated, and maybe we’d stand a chance!”

“Yeah. Maybe. But I think that little fox boy needs him right now more than we do. He just lost his parents, his people, and his home, all in one night.”

Sally said nothing, and kicked herself for being so selfish.

“Besides,” Rotor smiled. “We have you!”

“What can I do? All I’ve done is run off and get everyone hurt!”

“No, you didn’t.”

“Of course, I did! Look around!”

“No, you didn’t get everybody hurt. Eggman did. All this? This is 100% his doing.”

“You know, I… have this calling… or so I thought… to fight and hopefully defeat Eggman and save the world… and it is something I want to do! But no one else wants me to do it. No one else believes that I can do it—they all oppose me! ‘Don’t be silly, you’re still just a little girl! Be a good princess and go home!’ So I tried to prove myself… and I failed, we lost this skirmish, and you got hurt… what was I thinking? I’m a fool. When they take you back, I’m coming too. I think we’d all be better off if I stayed home from now on.”

Rotor sighed.

“Come on Sally, why are you doing this?”

“Doing what?”

“Earlier this afternoon at the castle, why did you ignore your father and immediately run off to help people? Why did you come help me when I was attacked? Why did you stay by my side and back me up even when I was too weak to keep pushing and your weapon was dying and the enemy was charging?”

“Um…”

“Look around!” Rotor motioned past her to the injured soldiers being loaded on litters and carried to the schoolhouse.

“Do you hate this as much as I do? Do you hate all of this pain and suffering? Because I think you do! Maybe you hate this even more than me because you’ve seen it firsthand! You’ve lived it! I know the stories of how your people came to Neopolis. I know what your people lost, who you lost!

“I’ve seen what you can do, Sally, and it is amazing.

“We don’t have lots of troops or resources or a champion like Sonic. We have you. What’s more is we need _you_. It doesn’t matter what I think of you, what everyone else thinks of you, or even what you think of you, what matters is what you choose to do.”

“I… I wish I could help. I want to stop this, but right now, I just don’t know what to do, and even if I knew what to do, I don’t know that I can!” Sally exclaimed. “My arm is still numb, I lost my sword, and my blaster’s been shot to bits.” Before Rotor could reply, they were distracted by shouting.

“Sergeant Ornan! Sergeant Ornan!” Private Timothy, a timid prairie dog, scurried down the slope. “The beetles are in the orchards building something. They’re stunning and kidnapping villagers and bringing them to whatever it is that they’re building!”

“I think that’s your cue,” Rotor whispered loudly. Sally looked unsure.

“Make a proper report, just like we practiced,” Sergeant Ornan pressed. “Tell me specifically, where in the orchards? How many adversaries? Describe what they’re constructing.”

“Um! Um! I don’t really know how many! It was dark. And they were all flying around too fast for me to count. But I think the trees were lime—no lemon! Lemon! Or maybe avocado? And I don’t know really know what they were building, some big boxy thing, I guess…” Sergeant Ornan sighed and shook his head.

“Hmm. I wonder what’s going on there,” Sally began. A sly smile crept across her face. “You know, I don’t need two functioning arms or a blaster to spy. Anyone can use their eyes. Even a silly sixteen-year-old girl.”

“That’s the idea!”

“What am I doing? I’ll just get into trouble again!”

“You got this. I believe in you!”

“So do I,” said Corporal Javier. Sally turned around, surprised. “Sorry, ma’am, I must admit, I was eavesdropping. I heard everything. I also saw everything earlier… you know, with the door…” He held out her scimitar. “I found this in the grass way over there. It must have gotten thrown by the explosion. I think it’s yours…?” Sally grinned and took it.

“Thank you! Oh thank you both!” Sally said.

“I’m going to go help with the others,” Corporal Javier said. “It would be a shame if while I was inattentive, _la princesa_ slipped away!” He winked and departed. Sally giggled.

“Rotor, I’ll be back for you, so don’t run off and do anything crazy. No more suicide missions until I get back, okay?”

“I’m not going anywhere, at least not by my own power,” he laughed, then added with a more serious tone, “but you be careful Sally. You’ve seen what Eggman can do.”

“Yeah. But I also know what I can do. And what I choose to do.” Sally saluted Rotor and slipped away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m curious. So I’ve written all these chapter in a bunch of different styles—descriptive, action-centered, inner-struggle-focused, child POV, even had a chapter with memory flashbacks (which I honestly don’t really like doing). So what do you like best? 
> 
> What’s been your favorite chapter so far?
> 
> ***
> 
> Coming next! Finally, what you’ve all been waiting for: Bunnie! (Sonic and Antoine show face again too!)
> 
> Muhahaha…


	8. Noble Spirit, Scared Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antoine wants to help—he really does! But he’s just so scared!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I know, I lied. I said this was going to be the Bunnie chapter, but it’s not. It’s the Antoine chapter. As I wrote the Antoine scene, it accidentally became long enough to be the Antoine chapter. I then figured that if Tails, Sonic, Sally, Bunnie, and Rotor were all going to get their own chapters, Antoine should too, especially since he has a big impact on the following Bunnie chapter (also he’s one of my favorite characters). I do plan on writing out Antoine’s origin story so this is kind of his cliff notes version to tide you over until then.
> 
> Also, I’m not stealing the name Panem from the Hunger Games. Panem is the old name for Paris, just like how Gotham is the old name for New York City.
> 
> Theme song for this chapter is Freedom Fighters by Two Steps from Hell. And also Scorched Earth by James Horner.

_Nine-year-old Antoine D’Coolette, who sat on his knees and draped over the low nursery windowsill, idly flicked a marble down a groove in the wood._

_The day had been hot. And boring. Nanny wouldn’t let him play outside and Tutor didn’t teach him any lessons. They had just fussed and discussed secret grown-up matters in hushed voices that got quiet whenever they thought he was around. Antoine pretended like he didn’t know what was going on, but he did._

_In the last letter Father sent home (that was weeks ago), Nanny read it aloud to him, but it seemed like she was skipping parts. She wouldn’t let him read it himself (which was very strange because Antoine wasn’t a baby anymore and he was old enough to handle grown-up stuff). So late that night, he escaped the nursery, snuck into the study, found Father’s letter and read it himself._

_Father said that the war wasn’t going well, but they had another chance. An ally from a distant land had hatched a daring plot. And if all went well, they could stop the enemy once and for all. But if they failed? Tell Antoine that Father loves him and flee to the northern islands of Albion and keep him safe. (Father meant to meet them there, right?) He had also written the date for “The Day of Reckoning,” which Antoine figured was the day the daring plot was going to be carried out._

_He marked it on his calendar, but he couldn’t just write “DAY OF RECKONING” on it (because then Nanny would know that he’d read Father’s letter) so he just marked the day with a stick drawing of a sword. His little idea worked and nanny never noticed the strange marking. Antoine counted down the days to THE DAY. And when it finally arrived, it was much more boring than he expected. No playing outside. No lessons. Keep the shades closed and when you play, don’t make too much noise._

_That wasn’t too hard, for the naturally introverted Antoine, but not that he was REQUIRED to stay inside, he desperately wanted to go out. It became so difficult for him to focus on any chapter books or little games that he ended up pacing around the house until Nanny threatened to make him do chores. Antoine retreated to his room so bored he ALMOST wished he had been assigned lessons that morning. He even considered VOLUNTARILY reading the next day’s lessons to get ahead. But in the end, he didn’t. And that’s because the little lights appeared._

_Through the window, Antoine could see rows and rows of little lights appeared in the distance coming from the hill region outside the city. Very slowly they progressed in a glowing line streaming toward the city gate. He watched them from his window as he had marble races in the windowsill (the blue marble nearly always won). He wondered and daydreamed. What were those lights? Who was it? Was that the army returning to Panem in victory? Was Father finally coming home after so many months away? Downstairs, he heard the clock strike eight o’ clock. Really? Was in only eight? Why was time moving SOOO SLOWLY? Antoine flicked the blue marble as hard as he can off the windowsill. He wished that they would get here already._

_“Antoine! What are you doing?” Nanny cried. Antoine looked up, startled._

_“I’m watching the little lights that are coming toward the city. See? They’re near the river!” He pointed. She wrenched him away from the window so hard that it hurt his shoulder. “We need to close the window! We need to hide!” She slammed the pane shut and yanked the shades across. The room darkened instantly._

_“What’s going on?” Antoine asked, alarmed. “Where did Tutor go?”_

_“Come into the closet! We must hide!” Nanny parted his clothes and threw boxes of his toys away on the floor. She pulled him in and slid the door shut behind them._

_“Why are we hiding? Aren’t those the lights of the army coming home? Did they win the war?” Antoine asked. Nanny leaned against the back wall and slid to the floor. She pulled him close._

_“Sh! Sh! We must stay quiet! No one can know that we are here.”_

_“You’re scaring me!” Antoine tried to push her away but she held him fast. “Tell me what’s going on!” She held up one finger to quiet him._

_“All those little lights you saw out the window?”_

_“What are they?”_

_“They are the bad guys. That is the enemy army. They’re coming to Panem to attack us.”_

_“…did we lose the war?” Antoine whispered in the dark._

_“We… may have lost the battle, I do not know. But as long as we are still alive and kicking, we have not lost the war.” Nanny held Antoine even tighter. This time he didn’t object._

***

The rookery towered over Antoine D’Coolette the coyote and Private Fatima Takla, the young mouse soldier and shrouded them in deep shadow. Antoine looked over Private Fatima’s shoulder at the list in her hands, but in the dim light, he struggled to make out the small print. He gave up and stepped back. What time was it? Wasn’t it only four o’clock in the afternoon? It was much darker than usual at this time.

“Mayor Ekambar and his daughters were the last people on the list,” Private Fatima said.

“Excellent,” Antoine said. “Zat means everyone in ze city is accounted for and locked down.”

“Report back to Sir Philip then?”

“ _Oui, mademoiselle_.”

“Okay then. Follow me, I know a shortcut.” She passed through a narrow alley to a hidden staircase that ascended to the next terrace up, but Antoine lagged behind and gazed at the city above. He’d never seen it from the bottom terrace looking up before. To be honest, he’d never had any reason to come down to this lowest, industrial terrace of the city.

The black cloud of wildfire smoke rapidly filling the sky blocked out the late afternoon sun. The already long shadows of the city darkened and deepened without a single lamp illuminated in the city to light their way (the King had ordered a blackout). Dark and massive the city loomed ominously in the sinister red glow, except, high above on the top terrace, the King’s Palace of the Seven Towers caught the last light of the dying day, the white plaster glowing a sort of golden peach color.

His heart quickened and his breath caught in his throat. The light! The color! The architecture! _C’est magnifique!_ How beautiful the towers stood, the last bastion of light in a world shrouded in darkness and evil. He felt like he did as a small boy, looking up at the mighty warriors of Panem led by his father the commander as they passed through the streets of Panem leaving on a quest to save the world. He remembered that feeling, that upwelling of pride and hope and confidence of victory.

 _“A bas Robotnik! Longue vie à la Francia! La victoire est à nous!”_ He had chanted with the crowd waving his little flag. How sure their victory was! The flowers, the banners, the cheering of the people in the streets, the blue sky and bright sun… How right everything was that day!

“Are you coming?” Private Fatima called. Antoine focused his gaze on her form standing atop the stairwell on the third terrace.

“ _Oui, mademoiselle_ ,” replied Antoine. “Just admiring ze view of ze city.” He stole one last glance at the towers and hurried into the alleyway.

***

_Everything around them was pitch black except a thin pale line of light from the streetlamps that streamed in from between the panels of the closet door. The room was utterly silent except for their breathing. Antoine felt like he was suffocating in the uncomfortably hot and stuffy closet air. Nanny had opened the door a crack but it didn’t seem to help much. She wouldn’t let him speak, so all he had to do was think. And worry about father. And imagine what sorts of horrible things could happen to them. He worked himself up so much that he cried. Nanny let him cry and petted his hair to comfort him. Finally, just after the clock downstairs struck nine o’ clock, Antoine drifted off._

_But he didn’t sleep long. He woke suddenly when the clock struck once to mark the half-hour. When he yawned and sat up, Nanny covered his mouth with her hand briefly. He listened. There were noises outside: the clomping of heavy feet on the cobblestone, the odd swishing and whining of machines moving (Father had once said that the enemy army was made of robots), and the distant sound of blaster fire and yelling._

_The enemy had arrived._

_On an off for an hour they heard little more than the marching of the robots, the humming engines and clacking treads of vehicles, and the occasional weapons fire. Where were the good guys? Where were the city defenders? Why weren’t they driving out the invading robot army? Antoine pretended to be an army commander like his Father and guess what the defenders were doing._

_Maybe the defenders were hiding and were going to spring an ambush. Or maybe they were elsewhere in the city defending more important buildings like the capitol building and the army headquarters and the cathedral. Or maybe, the robot army would just leave if no one attacked them and they saw that the city was empty. That would be a I very clever trick, if it worked._

_The clock struck eleven. Even before the clock downstairs had finished ringing, an explosion in the distance signaled the start of the battle. The streetlamps went out and the closet went pitch black. Blaster fire was exchanged on distant streets. Antoine huddled close to Nanny even though it was hot and she rocked him gently as they listened and waited for the morning._

_The clock struck twelve. The crack in the closet door repeatedly flashed, faintly with blaster fire and brightly from laser cannons and explosions. The gunfire was very close. It sounded like it was on the street right in front of their house. Defenders shouted orders to each other and the robots with their monotone voices demanded their surrender. One errant bullet whizzed through the outer wall and up into the ceiling of the nursery. Antoine ducked his head into Nanny’s lap and she covered him with her arms and body._

_The clock struck one. The closet door was illuminated by a faint red glow that grew brighter and brighter. There was a dull roar and crackling that increased in volume. The city was burning. Nanny was alert. She stood and sniffed the air and put her hand up near the ceiling every few minutes. She kept her eye glued to the crack in the door, waiting, watching for evidence of fire in the house. The night wore on and the redness dimmed as the fire moved away, sparing their house. Nanny relaxed slightly and sat back down._

_The clock struck two. A few minutes later, a terrific explosion shook the house and the crack in the closet was lit by a blinding flash. The house shuddered and groaned and the floor tilted downward. They slid against the door of the closet. Antoine clung to Nanny and screamed. She braced against the doorframe. The floor cracked and rebounded back upward. The house settled and restabilized. Both Nanny and Antoine peeked out of the much larger crack in the door. Where Antoine’s school desk once stood in the corner, there was a void. A massive hole in the walls and floor with the corner of the roof sagging into it. An explosion had collapsed part of the house._

_The clock struck no more for it was destroyed and buried in rubble. Nanny and Antoine no longer had a way to track the passage of the night. Time became one long unending nightmare of darkness, terrifying battle sounds, and flashes of light that made Antoine flinch and hide his face. It seemed to him that the battle would never end. The sun would never rise. He thought for sure that they would die in that closet._

_But is was not so. The sounds of the battle declined and moved further away. The red light of the city’s flames changed to pink and then gold as the sun rose. There were sounds of people in the streets. Not defenders or robots, but survivors. Men, women, and children were starting to emerge. Nanny finally opened the closet door and they carefully made their way out of the house down the fire ladders at the back of the house (the stairs had been destroyed). The defenders had succeeded in defeating the enemy robot army, but Panem was now unrecognizable._

***

Presently, Antoine and Private Fatima passed Josie Rose’s bathhouse. A band of yellow lamp light shone out of an upper window and the small pink face of Josie’s daughter, Amelia, peered down at them. Antoine made a motion for her to close the curtains. Amelia stuck out her tongue and made a face. Her mother appeared behind her, pulled her away, and closed the curtains.

Amelia Rose was not the only child in the city that night. By Antoine’s count, there were three other children dwelling within the walls: Mayor Ekambar’s daughters, Elili and Tekno (although Tekno was seventeen and hardly still a child) and the excitable pika, Pippi, daughter of the rather peculiar storehouse keeper, Ivanka the marmot. Those four children were the lucky ones. They sheltered away from battle behind the city’s protective walls. The rest of the children of the valley lived with their families outside the city in the farming villages, in the midst of violence.

Antoine’s heart ached. Did other children hide just as he had ten years ago? Did they hide in closets clinging to their parents just as he had clung to Nanny? Could they see the red sun set like he’d seen the red flames as his city burned? Could they hear the sounds of the battles like he’d heard the enemy marching the streets below his house?

They passed by the hospital on their way to the barracks lookout in the center of the second tier. Antoine inspected the many windows. Streaks and points of light shone out from the edges and corners of the blackout curtains, but not enough to make him say anything.

He almost missed it, but in a darkened room on the first floor, between the curtain and the glass, two big ears, a bandaged forehead, and two curious eyes peeked over the windowsill. Antoine paused. Who was that? Another child was in the city? Was it one of the dingo pups? Danny Dingo was notorious for getting hurt. But no, the face was too thin and the fur too fluffy. Could it be a fox? The rumor Antoine heard was that all of the foxes had perished or been captured in the catastrophe at the lodge. Had there actually been a survivor? A little child had somehow escaped? Antoine waved. The child’s eyes went wide and he ducked out of view. What had that fox pup witnessed that day? What had he lost? His home? His family? Everything and everyone he ever knew? How awful this endless war was!

Private Fatima led him up a winding staircase to the second terrace where the barracks and the armory were. She was nineteen years old, same as Antoine, but she looked hardly a day over sixteen. Her personality was more that of a quiet baker like her father Qasim, not a soldier. Did she have other dreams and ambitions? Did she choose to sacrifice them because the city needed soldiers? They arrived at the terrace and Private Fatima made her way into the barracks to report to Sir Philip. Meanwhile, Antoine jumped on the wall overlooking the lower three terraces.

From the top looking down, the city did not seem so ominous. He scanned the city for lights, movement, or sound, but other than the waves against the seawall far below, all was dark and quiet and still. It was peaceful. Tranquil. Just as the city had been in the thousands of years before the arrival of the people of the valley ten years ago.

Personally, Antoine had wanted to be a chef. He dreamed of owning a fine dining restaurant in downtown Panem. And maybe evening opening up a test kitchen or a bakery in the countryside. But after the Day of Reckoning, culinary arts became a profession the country could not afford. It was a luxury of freedom that had to be bought with the lives of soldiers.

How unfair the hand of fate! How he dreamed of the culinary arts and loathed the martial arts! Antoine’s generation, the Children of Yesterday had inherited a war from their mothers and fathers. And the Children of Today continued to reap the same fear and destruction and loss their elders endured before. Were they too destined have their dreams and ambitions crushed? How Antoine wished that the war had ended on the Day of Reckoning so that no children would face it. Alas! Despite the might of Francia and her allies, it was still not enough. The enemy was too strong.

***

“Brooding over the city, are we?” A voice behind Antoine startled him. He turned; it was Sir Philip.

“See any signs of trouble in the city O great protector?” The retired horse knight asked with a slight mocking tone.

“All is quiet in ze city. All of ze civilians are accounted for and in lockdown.”

“I know that. Private Fatima already told me.”

“Oh. Good.”

“With the city secured, there is no more work for you here.”

“Does not ze city need—”

“You should go up the hill to Oak Village.”

“Oh?”

“Report to a Sergeant Ornan and help with the war effort over yonder.”

“…and help, em… fight?”

“Is that not what I just said?”

“Fight ze, em, smallish flying badniks?”

“Of course! Who else is there to fight? Father Christmas?”

“Oh. No. Do not be ze worrying. I shall go them. I—I mean yes sir. Proceeding sir.” Antoine hopped off the wall and walked toward the staircase to the top terrace and the city gates.

“Go on, get a move on, soldier. Those robots aren’t going to defeat themselves.” Antoine sped up and trotted.

“Is that what you call a run?” Sir Philip called louder than he probably should have. “Where are you from? _Slow Landia_?” Sir Philip scoffed. Antoine rolled his eyes and jogged faster.

“Zat is a _neigh_ to you, Mr. Sir Rude Horse Face,” Antoine muttered. “Pooh! Zere ees no such place as Slow Landia and if zere was, I certainly would not be a citizen. ‘Run faster!’ You say, well I am no Sonic ze Hedgehog. I am going ze suitable speed for ze situation.”

Antoine neared the gate, Specialist Sakura the rabbit opened it just enough to permit him to pass through.

“Good luck, sir,” she said. Antoine nodded and saluted with two fingers.

As the gate closed behind him with a deep boom, all of his courage and determination vanished.

***

_“He’s completely useless to me as a soldier. Just cannon fodder,” Antoine stood outside of his battalion commander’s tent listening to the harsh words of his platoon leader._

_“We can’t send him. He’s the son of General D’Coolette,” the commander answered._

_“I don’t give a single cent of care. All of my other troops are good hardworking women and men but Private D’Coolette is not. He is nervous and frightened, more so than even a kitten.”_

_“Isn’t he the platoon cook? That’s hardly a frightening job.”_

_“Raise your voice at him and he cowers. Approach him too quickly and he flinches. But if there is even the slightest sound of battle in the distance, even simple gunfire from training at the shooting range, and he loses all sense and thought. Last night my men ate potato soup so overladen with salt that even the fish of the sea would die from too much salt. When we actually go into battle, this man—no this boy—is going to cause the deaths of the other troops because of his incompetency.”_

_“That is… surprising to hear. General D’Coolette seems to have a higher view of his son. Are you sure this really is the same Antoine D’Coolette you speak of?”_

_“The one and the same. It is true, sir, the son of General D’Coolette is a coward.”_

_“That is a shame. The General had lofty goals for him. But, so be it. Private D’Coolette may go. Who have you chosen for the other two?”_

_Antoine didn’t hear any more of the conversation. He felt as if he’d been stabbed in the heart. But he knew it was true. All of it. Antoine was a coward. His face heated with shame and he wished he could run away and hide._

_He was trying! Trying to please his father and fulfill his martial duties to Francia, but ever since that night when he was a child, the night he cowered in the closet with Nanny as the battle raged through his city… ever since then he was scared. Always scared. Of everything! And he hated himself for it. And he was trying so hard to fight the fear and be the strong brave soldier everyone expected of him. But he just couldn’t do it. He was a disgrace to the D’Coolette name. He was a disgrace to the Francian army. He couldn’t even cook, which was his passion in life. Antoine had no place in the world._

_“We have a mission for you three,” the commander said. Antoine now stood in the tent with two other soldiers. “We are sending you on a quest to seek the Lost Sky City and the secret weapon it holds within it.”_

_“I’m sorry, did I hear you correctly?” asked Specialist Mathieu. “Did you say the Lost Sky City? Is that not a children’s story?”_

_“Yes, it is a story, but a recent archaeology finding indicates that it may actually be real. We have received the tasking from high command to seek the city and fetch the weapon so that we might use it against Robotnik.”_

_“Are we really that desperate now that we are turning to archaeology and treasure hunting and—and fairy tales?” Asked Specialist Mathieu._

_“We are… following every lead, investigating every possible advantage.”_

_“Where do we start?” asked Private Philippe_

_“Go to the Temple of the Three Suns in Ilion.” The commander pointed to the location on the wall behind him. “The guards posted there will tell you everything they know. Follow the clues wherever they lead, our suspicion is that they will lead you south, although, how far, we do not know. It is imperative that you move quickly and quietly and not as soldiers. From now on, you must play the part of three civilian brothers seeking your fortune in the world or you long-lost parents or something of that sort. Once you leave this tent, take off your uniforms, put on your civilian clothes, and turn in your military gear to your squad leader. Do you understand?”_

_“Yes sir!” The young soldiers said._

_“One last word, a warning,” the commander added. “Until you find the weapon, there is no reason for you to return to Francia. And if you delay too long, she may not even be here when you do return.”_

***

Antoine stood in the shadows of the city wall. Before him up the hill stood Oak Village.

Where the battle raged.

He was a paradox. A soldier, yet one who so desperately wanted to avoid combat.

But he wanted to help. Help the people of this valley today so he could help Francia tomorrow.

For the first time in his adult life, Antoine faced real combat. Fear exploded in body and mind so strongly that the world faded and his knees buckled. Next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees panting next to the wall.

‘Stop ze panicking,’ he berated himself. ‘Focus! Make ze world smaller!’ Make the world smaller. Nanny taught him to do that in the days after Panem was attacked.

“Find something small,” she had told him. “Look at it and don’t look away from it. Think only about that one thing. Pretend you are a very small little Antoine and you are safe and protected by that one little thing.”

Antoine stared at the grass on the ground in front of his face. That’s some nice grass. Some very nice green grass and greyish-tan dirt. Green grass and some green weeds with little white flowers. Or were those weeds actually flowers? As he’d read in a book once, the only difference between a weed and a flower is a judgement. Antoine imagined himself as small as an ant in a forest of grass and weeds. In a world only made of grass and weeds and no Eggman robots or people to shame him for being a coward where he spent all of his time cooking and creating recipes for souffle and cake and maybe even trying his hand at making wine. Wine made of… wine made of… weeds?

“Okay,” Antoine sat back on his feet and took a deep breath. He was calmer now. Time to get to work.

Antoine stood up and looked at the village once again. Anxiety rose within him again and he looked away.

“Don’t be ze looking at ze village. Don’t look. Don’t even be ze zinking about it.”

And then he had another terrifying thought.

What if someone in the city had seen him just now?

Was the gate guard still watching him? What would Sir Philip say if he knew Antoine cowered in the shadow of the wall? Could even the King himself see him from his palace towers? He was disappointing all of them by being so weak. He needed to make up for it.

To make it look like he was doing something, he started walking along the wall still in the shadows, but he knew inevitably, he was going to have to leave it. He’d been ordered to after all. The eastern side of the village; there were no alarming lights or sounds or disturbing figures in the dark. It appeared that the battle was not immediately present at that location. He might still be relatively safe there.

Before he could change his mind, Antoine sprinted toward the homes of eastern Oak Village and hid behind a poorly-built woodshed. Glacing back at the city, he verified that no one should be able to see him from this point onward. He was safe. For now.

A fresh wave of shame washed over him. Sure, he had made progressing, moving from the wall to the village, but it was only motivated by fear—fear of what was behind him—fear of the judgement of others. He wasn’t a real soldier. He was a fake. An imposter. Why hadn’t kept his mouth shut and locked down in his home like the rest of the civilians?

“Hey! Watch where you’re stepping!” Antoine jerked his head in the direction of the unknown voice. An odd shape moved in the shadows.

“Yeah, I know! Don’t jostle him.” He squinted, trying to make sense of what he saw. It was four people carrying a litter with someone on it.

It struck Antoine like a plank to the face. People were hurt! Villagers! A moment later Antoine found himself sprinting toward them. Who were they carrying? Was it one of the few people he’d made friends with in the month that he’d been there? Antoine slowed next to them. They carried a walrus, the kind one who owned the workshop. Antoine knew him, but not very well.

“Do you need help?” He asked the medics.

“No, we’ve got him,” they answered. “But go on further, there are others who are wounded.”

Antoine looked further uphill. Another crew carried someone else into the schoolhouse. Antoine headed up and looked into the open schoolhouse door. Several injured soldiers and civilians sat or lay on blankets on the floor.

“I’m fine, let me go,” objected the disagreeable Lt. Geoffrey St. John. He pushed away a medic. “I have to go find the princess.”

“Can I help here?” Asked Antoine. He desperately hoped for a ‘yes.’ Anything to keep him away from the battle.

“Oi, mate! Are you a medic or a soldier?” Lt. Geoffrey addressed him sharply.

“Emm…” Antoine said.

“You’ve got a sword on your hip, so why aren’t you up there with the others swinging it?”

“Oh, I emm, I just finished my duties in ze city and I saw zem carrying ze injured walrus and I zought I’d come up here and see if you needed any—”

“No!” Lt Geoffrey yelled. “If you can fight, then go fight!” He raised his fist like he was ready to punch the possum medic who attended to him.

“Calm down Geoffrey, you’ll hurt yourself more!” They said.

“No, I will not calm down! I have to go back out there!” He shouted.

“You’d probably better go,” the possum said to Antoine sympathetically. “We’ve got things under control here…”

“We’re at war! What part about war seems calm to you?!” Geoffrey continued.

“…for the most part.” The medic added.

Antoine’s shoulders dropped in defeat and he left without saying another word. The skunk was right. Why wasn’t he out there swinging his sword?

He continued his trek uphill and toward the east wall of the valley. Toward the alarming lights and sounds of battle. But he was momentarily blinded and deafened by the pain in his heart.

Why wasn’t he out there swinging his sword? Truth was he was afraid of failing.

Facing battle and freezing or fainting or fleeing—he would do anything except fight. He was afraid of failing the king of Neopolis, who was so kind as to let him stay in Neopolis. He was afraid of failing his father—who wanted his only son to be a mighty warrior. He was afraid of failing Francia by not fighting and defeating Eggman. And most of all, if he failed Francia, he was failing his beloved brothers Mathieu and Philippe.

He wasn’t just afraid of failing, he KNEW he was going to fail. He knew his abilities fell far short of what is required of a soldier. So why try? If he couldn’t manage to help save this one small valley, how could he ever hope to save all of Francia? So why try at all?

He ought to just go “get lost in the forest” for the duration of the battle or “scout ahead” or something to stay out of the way. Leave the fighting to the real warriors. Or better yet, he could simply head back into the mountains. Head back to Francia. Leave everything here behind. Anything to get away from the judgement of the people he was failing. The weapon wasn’t here anyways. The search was a wild goose chase. A fool’s errand. And Antoine was the fool. Foolish for letting his noble soul get him caught up in a career field beyond his skills and abilities.

Why try if you will fail?

Antoine could see flashes of light—blaster fire. He could smell the smoke of the wildfire heavy in the air. He could taste the metallic zing of electricity in his mouth. He knew with every fiber of his being that he would fail if he went too far in and that he ought to just give up now. Save himself. Save everyone else the trouble. He really ought to stop and turn back.

But for some reason, Antoine kept walking. Toward the sounds of the battle. His fear growing with every step.

But still he kept on walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There’ll be more of Antoine’s backstory in a later chapter. So if it seems incomplete, that’s because it is.
> 
> I know, there was kind of a longer break between last chapter and this one. Call it a World Building break. I did a lot of work on other stories in this STH canon, stuff like building outlines, coming up with new story ideas, and actually writing chapters of other stories. 
> 
> Looking back, so far, I think I like Sonic’s Glacier chapter best. In the future, my stories are going to be much more lighthearted, humorous, more action-y and less introspective-y, and even fluffy at times. I just gotta make it through this darker stuff first and then I can get into the fun stuff later.
> 
> The next chapter, actually the next two, are Bunnie chapters. The wait for them should be much shorter. They're already mostly written.
> 
> And finally (I know, I'm long-winded today): Muhahaha. Rising Heroes is only the tip of the iceberg. I have ideas for dozens of stories in this canon.


	9. Not Fast Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fate (or destiny) of one Bunnie Rabbot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Bunnie chapter. As promised. (It's about dang time!)
> 
> Theme songs are Release Me by Two Steps From Hell, Hell Hath No Fury by Rupert Gregson-Williams (Wonder Woman 1 soundtrack), And Consuming Fire by City of the Fallen.

Sally sped up the hill. She’d ran up this hill hundreds of times on her evening runs. Her past diligence was paying off when it mattered most; her steps were sure even in the falling dark. She knew where every plant, stone, tree root, and errant farm tool lay. She knew to sidestep around the hole the Dingo pups had dug seeking treasure a month ago. She jumped over Herb the Moose’s lost blue rake without even thinking. She knew to duck under that one tree at the edge of the savory herb field whose boughs were so heavy-laden with a bumper crop of lemons that the tips of the branches brushed the ground.

She kept her head on a swivel, eyes darting back and forth scanning the citrus orchard watching for the enemy. Something zipped through the canopy two rows over. Sally whipped around and froze. She held her breath and didn’t move a muscle, watching. Listening. Sensing. Something else whirred by, this time through the tall grass and weeds behind her.

C _lang!_

Sally looked back just in time to see a scrap of machinery drop to the ground next to a lime tree with a fresh gash in the bark. Her eyes narrowed and she quickly drew her scimitar. This time, she closed her eyes and listened.

…bzzzzZZZZZZZZZ!

Sally swung the sword powerfully and let it go. Like an arrow it flew and impaled a beetle which careened to the ground sword and all scattering the machinery and hardware it carried. Sally stalked over, grabbed her sword, and kicked the smoking remains. Grey ooze slid out and moistened the earth. She caught a whiff of the bad egg smell and leapt back covering her nose with her arm.

“Oh, man! That’s really gross.”

_Clang!_

Sally flinched with her sword at the ready, but saw nothing. The clattering noise had come from up ahead, past the orchard’s boundaries.

‘What are they doing way out there?’ Sally thought. Weren’t the beetles after the people of the valley? Trying to kidnap them and cause general chaos in the village and city? The lightly forested gap between the orchards at the northern border of Oak Village was about as far from people and civilization you could get without entering the wilds that extended to the mountains and beyond.

‘There’s nothing out there beyond the orchards except…!’ A chill shot through Sally. ‘Oh no!’

There was one place beyond the orchards, someplace she spent a lot of time growing up, probably her favorite childhood haunt…

Rosie’s house.

Sally bolted.

Rosie the woodchuck was the caregiver for orphans, lost children, and children whose parents needed help. Sally’s best friend, Bunnie, was her charge since even before they had arrived in the valley.

It made sense. The area was away from the city and the villages at the edge of the forest. That’s why Rosie chose to live there in the first place: to provide the children in her care the greatest freedom to run around and not get in trouble (“A child in the wood is a child that is good,” she used to say). But beyond the protective barrier of the fields and orchards, Rosie and her wards were vulnerable and exposed, an easy target for the maleficent invaders. It didn’t help that the gap was sparsely wooded with little undergrowth, providing plenty of space for the smallniks to construct whatever their devious plot required.

“Get ya clammy claws offa me!” A woman shrilly screeched. “Touch any o’ ma wee bairns and I’ll sock ya into next week!”

‘Rosie! They got her!’ Sally felt electrified and ran faster.

She spilled out from the orchard and immediately found herself in the open without cover. Scurrying behind the craggy trunk of an old-growth pine, she looked out and surveyed the scene. It took a minute to make sense of the odd shapes in the dim forest ahead. It appeared that the beetles were using the tools and bits of machinery from Rotor’s shop to build a large hollow box-like structure. They had Rosie, Bunnie, and Elena Raccoon’s youngest two kits, Sundance and Bravely, as well as a potted lemon tree in a sort of improvised cage. Three beetles hovered in front of it.

“These are all the living beings from the house?” A monotone electronic voice asked.

“Affirmative,” was the monotone electronic reply. Sally’s eyes narrowed. Was that a beetle talking?

“Direct all drones to bring captured creatures here.”

“Roger.” One beetle zipped off back toward the orchards.

The beetles hadn’t talked before. At least not that Sally knew of. Why were they suddenly speaking? What was different now than earlier? Had Rotor’s jammer actually damaged their silent, wireless communication ability?

“I will inspect these creatures for compatibility,” one of the two remaining beetles said. When it spoke, its eyes lit up yellow. One of its legs expanded and transformed into what appeared to be some kind of flashlight. It shone the light at Rosie.

“This one is too old,” it said and passed the beam of light onto the two young raccoons. Bravely hid behind Rosie’s skirt.

“Inspect this, butthead!” Sundance shouted and stuck his tongue out at the beetles. “Na na na na na!” The beetle ignored him and passed the light over to Bunnie.

“Those two are too small and weak, but this one is compatible.”

“Compatible?” Sally murmured. “With what?”

“Acknowledged.”

“It?! I got a name bozo. And it ain’t it!” Bunnie shook her fist. They ignored her and passed the light to the lemon tree.

“This one is… a plant?!”

“You ordered all living beings to be removed from the…”

“Your logic circuits must be faulty. Plants serve no purpose to the Egg Empire. Discard the plant. Prepare the others for transport.”

“Affirmative.”

“Transport? How are they planning on—”

ZAP!

“Aah!” Rosie screamed briefly as she and the children collapsed to the ground unconscious.

“Ohmigosh!” Sally gasped.

“Aiiii!” Bunnie squealed. “Rosie! Sundance! Bravely! Say something!” Bunnie gently shook Sundance’s shoulder.

“Where is the transport module?” Asked what seemed to be the lead smallnik. Bunnie gave the beetles a death glare.

“You sick monsters! You zapped ‘em!” Bunnie screamed and kicked the bars of their cage.

“Unit B45 has been dispatched to retrieve it. ETA 963 seconds.”

“Is the roboticizer ready?”

“ROBOTI—!” Sally clamped her hand over her mouth. _Roboticizer! That’s what they were building! They were going to roboticize Bunnie and all of the villagers they could!_

“Negative. ETIC 257 seconds until operational.”

“Oh heck no!” Bunnie growled. “You’re thicker than a bowl of oatmeal if you think I’m gonna let y’all turn me into some kinda mindless metal me.” She lunged into the bars of the cage and kicked between them. The beetle jerked back to avoid her powerful leg. “Come here you coward, bring your ugly mug to mah foot!”

“This one has spirit and strength.”

“Excellent material for a servant. Keep her in line until the roboticizer is ready.”

Sally did the math quickly; 257 seconds equated roughly to four minutes. She had four minutes to run back and tell the others, get help, return, and fight to save Bunnie and the others. Sally looked down the hill and plotted how far she’d come.

‘I don’t know that I can do that,’ she realized. ‘I don’t have Sonic’s speed.’ Besides, even if she did run for help, who was left to back her up? Sergeant Ornan? Corporal Javier? Gamma crew who was busy protecting Neopolis?

She looked at her bad arm, wiggled her fingers and closed her fist. It was progress, but she still couldn’t grip or swing her sword properly with that arm. But even fighting one handed, she was still a fierce fighter. Maybe he could damage the roboticizer and buy them some time. Maybe she could free Bunnie who could help fight.

Or Sally could get captured and roboticized too. That wouldn’t do anybody good. The seconds were ticking by. Sally had to decide what she was going to do. Run for help? Stay and fight?

A twig snapped nearby.

Sally’s ears perked and she whirled around getting low to the ground.

Something rustled in the ferns a ways off to her right, staying close to the shadowy sides of the trees. It was an upright figure with whiskers, triangular ears, and a shaggy tail.

“Corporal Javier?” Sally whispered. They didn’t answer.

“…eeeeek…” they squeaked, looking around, rubbing their hands together nervously. Whoever it was, they were going to wander into trouble or give away Sally’s position if she didn’t act quickly.

She leapt up, grabbed the back of their collar and dragged them behind the pine tree. She shoved them against the trunk and glared. It was that coyote the foxes rescued from the mountains recently, that timid one with a foreign accent.

“EEEK!” He squeaked.

“What are you doing here?” Sally demanded.

“Oh! It is you, princess! I’m sorry, I did not recognize you in ze—”

“Sh!” She sharply hushed and covered his mouth with her hand. He scrunched his eyebrows together in confusion. Sally released him and motioned with her head for him to look.

“You just about wandered into that mess.” He peeped around the side of the tree. His eyes went wide and he flinched back in terror.

“You should be more careful in a combat zone! What’re you doing up here anyways?”

“Oh, em, ze city was secure and ze ‘orse knight sent me to report to ze one called… em… Sergeant Onion?”

“You mean Sergeant Ornan? You missed him by a long shot—too far north and east.”

“Oh!” Antoine stared at her nervously for a second. She raised an eyebrow. He laughed awkwardly and glanced back around the tree. “What eez zat monstrocity zat zey are building?”

“It’s a roboticizer!”

“A what?!”

“You see those villagers in that cage? See that rabbit? That’s my best friend and they’re going to turn her and everyone they can get their zappy legs on into a robot!”

“Sacre bleu! Terrible!”

“You’re tellin’ me! Now you’re a soldier aren’t you?”

“Well… emm… _oui._ One might say.”

“You’re armed?”

“…I have my sword…”

“Alright! I’m glad you’re here! On the count of three, we’re gonna jump out and—”

“Jump out!? What do you mean be ze jumping out?”

“We’re going to fight ‘em! We only have a few minutes left to save Bunnie! I can’t do it myself—I’ve only got one good arm! But with you, we might stand a chance!”

“What?! Are you crazy? Just you and me against ze, let’s see… no less zan fourteen of _ces grille-pain_.”

“Fourteen? I counted seventeen!”

“Eek! Seventeen!?”

“Look if you don’t help me, my very best friend in the world, Bunnie, will be turned into a robot and those other villagers in the cage will be kidnapped just like the foxes were.”

“One of us should be ze going for ‘elp… I volunteer!” Antoine started to hurry away but Sally caught his collar again and pulled him back.

“We don’t have time! We have to do this now!”

Antoine gulped and looked back out a third time.

“I can do zis. I am a very brave soldier. I’m going to go out zere and stop ze roblotifier and… fight ze many badniks… with all of ze zapping legs and scary wings and ze… ze evil bug eyes.”

“Okay. You ready? Three, two, one… AAAAAHHHH!” Sally sprang out and chopped a beetle clean in half. All of the beetles spun and stared at her.

“Come and get it!” Sally dared them. The boss beetle’s eyes lit up.

“Secure the prisoners! Capture the intruder!”

“Ah!” Bunnie yelped as a beetle shot her with a stunning blast. She fell backwards against the bars and slid to the ground, dazed.

“BUNNIE!” Sally shouted. “BUNNIE HOLD ON! ANTOINE! I need you to—wait, Antoine?” 

“AIIIIII! RUN AWAY! ZE EVIL BUGS ARE COMING! EEEE!” Antoine sprinted down the hill and back into the orchard.

“What the—where is he—THAT’S THE WRONG DIRECTION!” Shouted Sally.

WHOOSHWHOOSHWHOOSHWHOOSH! Sally leaned back into the tree and as the wind gusts from the two squads of badniks blew past Sally in pursuit of the coyote.

“Well, that’s not what I had in mind, but it’ll do.” Sally said and added, “REMEMBER TO TELL THEM ABOUT THE ROBOTICIZER!”

ZAP!

Sally jumped back from the smoking scorch mark on the tree’s bark. She cautiously creeped her eyes around the trunk. Antoine had drawn away roughly half of the beetles. Three of the remaining drones continued to work on the roboticizer, two stayed close to the cage with Bunnie and company, and the other four trained their weaponized legs on Sally.

One against four? Those odds weren’t too bad. But one against nine? That was not so good. Could she win? Did she have the skills? Maybe, if she’d had both the use of both arms and was equipped with more than just her trusty scimitar. Did she have the luck? Not that she could rely on. Historically, luck wasn’t on the side of the Acorn family. Did she have backup? Nope. None to speak of. Lt. Geoffrey St. John was out of commission. The militia squads were busy with the aftermath of the battle for Rotor’s workshop. Sonic was on a mission elsewhere to save the foxes. Antoine had left to draw away some of the enemy and try to summon help. Rotor had served nobly and was wounded in battle. Who knew where her father the King was…

Behind Sally stood the city and the villages of her people, before her hovered the forces of Eggman, and between them their prize: the lives of Rosie, Bunnie, Sundance, and Bravely. Standing alone and facing steep odds, she once again encountered the same choice she had been making all day: retreat to safety or stand and fight. To Sally, there was no question. Right now, she was all that stood between Eggman and her people.

This was her battle.

And even if this didn’t go well, even if she was defeated, captured, injured, or even killed, Sally believed with her whole heart, that she was doing the right thing.

This day had been about one thing: taking a stand. Making a statement. Initially it had just been about Sally making a statement to herself and her father, but maybe this was really a statement of her people, and even the world, to Eggman himself:

“We won’t give up! We won’t give in! We will take a stand and fight and never back down until the whole world is free!”

It didn’t matter what happened, that was up to fate and destiny and Father Oak. The only thing that mattered is what she chose to do.

***

 _…gotto run run run gotta stop the badnik gotta save the valley_ gotta go go go gotta go fast fast fast gotta run run run…

Sonic was doing that thing again. Hearing the rhythm of his steps; assigning words to the beat like a chant or a song with no melody. It helped him keep pace. Especially since there was very little around him to accurately judge his speed. No trees. No boulders. No buildings. No landmarks other than the innumerable peaks all around.

The moss at his feet blurred by but the distant sides of the wide U-shaped valley crept by at a snail’s pace. He’d followed the network of valleys back southward in the general direction of the smoke cloud and ended up in what he’d named “The Really Big Awesome Valley.” On either side of him the stony valley walls undulated, alternating between ridgelines and valleys. And how many there were! Where did all the valleys lead to? Did they go to other hidden valleys? Other secret civilizations like Neopolis? Had anyone yet scouted out this area? Shouldn’t there be a map of such a labyrinthian maze of valleys. And which one of them led back to his valley?

He hoped he wouldn’t miss it. But if he did, Sonic figured he’d just run westward until he hit the coastline and then follow it south to where Neopolis dropped into the sea.

Sonic had a slow start on his journey back to the city. It had taken him a hot minute to warm up after his cold, wet, and insane adventure in the glacier. He hoped he’d seen the last of that ice block, but something told him he hadn’t. He remembered the cold and shivered.

How long had Sonic spent wandering in that glacier? He had no sense of how much time had passed. As far as he could tell, the sun was frozen in the sky in the exact same position it had been when he’d left Neopolis, although, now it had taken on an unnatural orange hue.

The smoke cloud filled the entire sky over the southern side of the Really Big Awesome Valley. Definitely larger than it had been earlier. How serious was the situation back home?

_“Son, you better Run. Now. Go do what you need to do. That kid you keep thinking about, he’ll die if you don’t.”_

Hallucination Dad’s warning didn’t make sense. The forest may be burning, but the city was made of stone. Surely it was safe from the bad guys’ electrical attacks. And Sonic had made sure that Miles was safely brought to the city. But what about everyone else? The villagers? The city-dwellers? Where was Sally? Hopefully, she’d stayed in the city too.

Something whooshed past Sonic on his left.

Wait! What was that?

He skidded to a halt, leaving a several-hundred-foot-long gash in the moss and dirt. He backtracked to a lone tree in the valley.

It was a mountain ash. The one he’d crashed into when he fell into the valley. Sure enough, snow smeared down the steep incline down to the half-melted remains of the snowy cornice that had broken off and tumbled into the valley taking him with it. This was the mouth of what led to his valley.

“Hey, hey! There’s my landmark!” Sonic grinned. “It’s about time you showed up!” He gave the trunk a friendly slap. “Sorry, I can’t stay. Gotta go save the city, you know. But maybe I’ll see you around sometime.”

Sonic bolted up the slope and all was still once more in the Really Big Awesome Valley. That is, until a random snowball fell from the heavens and broke against the mountain ash’s bare branches.

“AND THAT’S FOR BEING POKEY!” Sonic yelled.

The tree quivered quietly. Sonic zoomed off.

 _…gotto run run run gotta stop the badnik gotta save the valley_ gotta go go go gotta go fast fast fast gotta run run run…

***

Sally was pinned down. Snapping electrical blasts flew past her on either side of the tree she hid behind. She knew inevitably, one of the beetles was going to come around the tree far enough to get a bead on her. She’d have to take it out before it took her out, but that would be difficult since it would likely remain out of sword-reach. Time was ticking. She had to do something! She couldn’t just wait for them to take her!

“I’m trapped! I don’t know what to do!” She said looking up into the dark canopy. “Oh! What am I saying? Haha! I’m a squirrel!” She sheathed the scimitar and scrambled up the sheer trunk of the tree to the first branch. She smirked looking down at them as they aimed and shot at nothing.

“Hehe. What a bunch of losers. I’ve got the upper hand now.” Like a hawk, she plunged silently from the branch. Skillfully, she landed on the beetle with both feet and drove it into the ground. She rolled away and sprang up stabbing a second beetle through the core processor.

“Oops. You’re malfunctioning,” she mocked as it spiraled into the ground shooting the dirt. Three down, six to go.

The two beetles guarding as well as one from the roboticizer joined the fray. But despite their fully-charged limbs, they stopped firing. Sally lunged and slashed at her four assailants but they simply dodged back or to the side just out of sword-range.

Why weren’t they shooting? Earlier, they had aimed to kill Rotor. They had zapped and incapacitated many of the villagers. But now? They were reluctant to touch her. Why? Sally ceased her swinging. They whirled around her like vultures.

“What are you up to?” Sally asked. Behind her in the cage, Bunnie stirred. “Bunnie?”

“Sally?” Was the groggy reply.

“Yes! I’m here Bunnie!” Sally said tracking the beetles as they circled.

“Sally!” Bunnie exclaimed in alarm as she saw the circling smallniks. “Get out of there!”

“I’m not going to leave you behind, sis!”

“They’re going to get you too!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t let them!”

“The roboticizer is complete!” Cried on of the beetles that had continued working on it.

“Begin! Begin! Begin!” Commanded the boss beetle. One of the remaining beetles installed itself onto the roboticizer and spun its gyros generating power. The roboticizer powered up. A sign on the side glowed green and read BOT ON THE SPOT.

“Oh no you don’t!” Sally lunged for the machine with her sword outstretched, but spray of electrical blasts in front of her stopped her short. She turned around and whacked a beetle, lopping off three of its legs.

One beetle shot a blast at the top corner of the cage, causing it to burst open. Bunnie staggered to her feet. Two beetles approached. She tried to kick them away, but she was still weak from the stun blast. They grabbed her arms and dragged her toward the roboticizer.

“No, no, no, no, NO, NO NO!” Bunnie struggled and pulled.

“Bunnie!” Sally yelled and took two steps toward her. One of the beetles yanked her hair backwards. “Augh! Let go!”

“Sally!” Bunnie screamed as the beetles lifted and dropped her into the machine. Sally reached back with her sword and cut her hair short, severing the badnik’s grip. She rolled toward the roboticizer and madly swung toward the pursuing bot, chopping off one of the wings. It tumbled to the ground.

“Get Rosie and the kids outta here!” Bunnie shouted, her head still visible sticking out of the top of the machine. Then she screamed. “Ahh! Mah legs! It’s got mah legs!”

“NO!” Sally screeched. She leapt to her feet and stabbed upward toward the beetle that powered the machine, but another threw itself in front of Sally’s sword. The blade passed straight through the central gyro. The spinning rings struck the blade and snapped it in half. The gyro slowed momentarily until the sword tip was expelled and dropped to the ground next to Sally’s feet. She stabbed the half-sword into the BOT ON THE SPOT sign and pulled, cutting a long gash in the external paneling until it hit something solid and stopped. She yanked to try and remove the half-sword but it stuck fast.

“NonononoNO NONOOOOO! AHHH!” Bunnie shrieked. “My arm!”

“I’m coming!” Sally yelled.

“I’m done for, Sally-girl! Just go! Save yourself!”

“No, you’re not! I’m com—” Something whacked Sally’s ankles knocking her feet out from under her.

“SALLY!”

Sally lay on the ground on her stomach, gasping; the wind knocked out of her. Three beetles converged on her in seconds. One gripped her legs, another planted itself on her lower back and the last lay across her upper back and reached its long legs around her arm, neck and head. Their combined weight pressed her into the ground, pinning her.

“Sally, keep fighting!” Bunnie begged. Sally looked up sideways past her shoulder. She could only see Bunnie’s eyes and ears. Before Sally could reply, Bunnie yelped as she was sucked downward into the machine.

“rrrrRRRRRRAAAAHHHH!” Sally’s heart swelled with rage. She twisted and writhed. With her one free arm, she gripped one of the legs on the beetle and yanked it clean off. She fought as hard as she could to get free. One of the beetles gave her a mild shock. The zinging pins-and-needles feeling throughout her entire body stilled her squirming.

“SOMEBODY HELP! SOMEONE STOP THE ROBOTICIZER!” She yelled as loud as she could. Her words hung in the air and reverberated through the valley.

No. That wasn’t her words. There was another sound. A dull roaring sound, like a strong gust of wind grew in volume. It seemed to be coming from the mountains and rushing down the valley toward them.

There was only one thing that could make that noise.

“Sonic!” Sally gasped.

“Make way! Coming through!” Sonic yelled.

She turned her face away and scrunched her eyes closed.

!!!!KAAAAPOWWWWWW!!!!

The machine burst apart and metal parts went flying everywhere. The beetles were thrown off of Sally by flying debris and the blast of wind. Sally rolled to the side and covered herself with a random sheet of metal as scrap metal and debris rained down.

Fifteen seconds later, the clattering of hardware on Sally’s makeshift shield subsided. She opened her eyes and squinted through the smoke. Other than a few small fires, the forest was strangely quiet and still. She threw the sheet metal to the side and sat up.

“Sonic?” She called. He didn’t reply. His incredible momentum must’ve carried him on downhill.

“Bunnie?” Sally staggered to her feet, her body still tingly from the electric shock. “Bunnie? Can you hear me?”

“Sa—Sally…” Bunnie groaned from somewhere nearby.

“Bunnie!” Sally jumped and waded through the wreckage. “Where are you Bunnie? Keeping talking so I can find you!”

“Over here!” Bunnie said weakly.

“I see you girl, I’ve got you!” Sally flipped a distorted metal panel off her friend.

“I can’t look Sally girl, how bad am I?” Bunnie asked.

“Just look at me. Look at my face Bunnie, only my face.”

“Why? What is it, Sally?”

Sonic zipped back uphill and skidded to a halt near them.

“Hi!What’sgoingonhere?WhatwasthatthingIjustsmashed?Ihopeitwasn’timportant!”

“Sonic…” Sally began. Sonic covered his mouth with his hand.

“Oh man! I wasn’t fast enough!” Sonic gasped. “I was too late! She’s… half robot!”

“What? I am?!” Bunnie lifted her head from Sally’s hands and looked down at the rest of her body. “I am! My legs! My

arm!” Bunnie looked down and waved her one hand panicking. “My poor fluffy cute little cotton tail! All metal!”

“You weren’t supposed to tell her that!” Sally punched Sonic’s shoulder, hard.

“Oww! Sorry! I thought she knew already!” Sonic rubbed his arm. He deserved that. Man, today was just awful.

Bunnie screamed and covered her eyes with her arm and started crying.

Rosie, who had recovered her senses, limped over.

“Rosie! Are you okay?!” Sally asked.

“Never mind me…” Rosie stared at Bunnie for a moment. Bunnie had stopped sobbing and lay still.

“Bunnie? Bunnie!” Sally shook her friend’s shoulder.

“I think she fainted,” Sonic said.

“She needs a doctor.” Rosie interrupted and put her hand on Sonic’s sore shoulder. “You’re fast, you should take her to Doc Valencia in the city!”

“You got it, ma’am.” Sonic gave her a thumbs up. He collected the girls in his arms. “I’ll be back in a flash, Sally,” he said and sped off.

_Antoine ran for help. But he wasn’t fast enough._

“Sally,” Rosie said gently, putting her hand on Sally’s shoulder. “Are you alright, darling?”

_Sally fought her way to the roboticizer. But she wasn’t fast enough._

“…yeah. Yeah. I’m okay,” Sally lied. She was very much not okay.

_Sonic had blasted through and destroyed the roboticizer. But he wasn’t fast enough._

“Sally, I know what has happened is frightening, but there’s nothing we can do for her right now. It is out of our hands. Now, I need you to help me collect the other children and bring them to the city. Can you do that, luv?” Sally nodded.

_No one was fast enough._

_Bunnie was roboticized._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I imagine the smallniks’ voices to be like Daleks. Or like the robots in the LEGO Movie. In my original word document, the robots' voices are written in Courier New font so that it is easy to tell when they're speaking but I guess AO3 doesn't support other fonts.
> 
> ETA – Estimated Time of Arrival  
> ETIC – Estimated Time In Commission (how long till the job's done)


	10. Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bunnie awakens and faces the truth of who she's become. Sally struggles with who she's supposed to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theme song is Earth by Hans Zimmer and L’Appel Du Vide by Thomas Bergersen.
> 
> There’s a bit of Sallonic. Or SoniSally. Or whatever the ship is called.
> 
> Bunnie Rabbot is a desert cottontail from (what is in our time) North Platte, Nebraska.

King Max was at the front gate of the city when Sonic passed through with Bunnie on their way to the hospital.

“SONIC!” The King yelled as Sonic zoomed by. Sonic didn’t have time to stop then, but he returned he returned 27 seconds later after he dropped off Bunnie.

“Hiya Kingy!” Sonic said.

“Don’t call me that,” the King said irritably. He stood decked out in his royal battle armor. “Did you get the foxes?”

“That would be a negative,” Sonic admitted. “There was—”

“Save it,” the King interrupted. “I’ve got a new tasking for you.”

“What can I do for you?” Sonic asked. The King stared at him intently for a moment.

“So,” he began. “You like my daughter, don’t you?” Sonic eyed him curiously. It sounded like a loaded question. He knew that the King didn’t approve of Sally dating Sonic.

“You bet I do!” Sonic replied.

“Then what are you doing in the city?” He demanded severely.

“Um… I was—”

“I don’t care!” The King angrily cut him off. “Sally’s still out there somewhere running around. And I’m told that she’s hurt. My troops say that she’s behaving recklessly and not listening to reason. So I don’t care what you’re doing right now, but if you love her, then you need to get her back inside this city in the next five minutes or I will PERSONALLY throw you into the ocean.”

“You got it, Kingy.” Sonic saluted and sped off.

***

Sally carried Bravely on one hip and held Sundance’s hand. Next to them, Rosie supported Elena Raccoon’s arm, steadying her as they walked down the hill toward the city. Elena’s oldest child, Midnight, walked a few paces ahead of them carrying a sack of belongings slung over his shoulder.

Sally was in a daze. Barely holding it together. Sally had failed to save Bunnie. Now her best friend was part robot. She’d failed to save the valley. The enemy was still out there causing chaos. She’d barely started to chase her calling and already she’d failed it. She’d failed everything and everyone.

“Miss Sally,” Sundance said. “I have a question.” 

“Don’t pester her right now,” Elena said. “The princess is upset.”

“I’m upset too,” Sundance said. She wrapped her arms around Sally in a hug. “I like Bunnie. Do you think she’ll be okay, Mama?”

“Mah Bunnie’s strong,” Rosie said. “She won’t go down without a fight, I’m sure of it.”

Sonic appeared.

“Sonic!” Sally exclaimed. 

“Is everyone okay?” Sonic asked. 

“Aye, we’ll be alright,” Rosie answered. 

“Sonic! I need your help,” Sally said anxiously. “We need to evacuate all of the villagers to the city. There are a bunch of smaller beetle-shaped badniks flying around that are trying to capture people. After you smashed the roboticizer, they disappeared, but I think they’re just regrouping.”

“We’ve already talked to that military wildebeest fellow and they are already workin’ on evacuatin’ everyone,” Rosie added quickly. Sonic watched Sally curiously for a moment.

“You doin’ okay Sally?”

“Yes! I’m fine. Other than being a little sore I mean.”

“You sure?”

Sally hesitated, and then gave an unconvincing “yeah.”

“How about this,” Sonic said. “How about I help bring you guys where you need to go? You know, speed up the evacuation process?”

“Aye. Like that idea.” Rosie said. “Take the wee ones first.”

“Where to?”

“The hospital for me, to be with my Bunnie,” Rosie said.

“The bathhouse for the rest of us,” Elena said.

“The bathhouse?” Sonic questioned. Elena nodded.

“Sergeant Ornan said that the plan is for the villagers to shelter in the bathhouse on the west side of the city or the chapel on the east side.”

“You don’t look so good. Are you sure you don’t want to go see a doctor?” Sonic eyed the frail and pallid Elena.

“Yes,” Elena nodded. “There isn’t anything more she can do for me so there’s no use for us to crowd up the hospital.”

“Bathhouse it is.” Sonic gathered Bravely and Sundance from Sally and zoomed off. He returned seconds later for Midnight, then Elena, then Rosie, and finally Sally.

“Your turn!” Sonic said. Sally looked at him like she was about to cry, and then looked away. She looked so defeated.

“Hey, hey, hey. It’s going to be okay.” He reached for her shoulder. She whacked his arm away.

“NO! NO IT ISN’T!” Sally shouted and burst into tears. 

“Sally, I—”

“NO! STOP IT! SHUT UP!” Sonic looked at her in surprise. Sally clenched her fists, eyes flaming.

“I’ve screwed everything up! I’m a failure! Rotor, Geoffrey St. John, and Bunnie all got hurt because I’ve failed to stop the badniks.”

“What’s going on, Sal?”

“I wasn’t fast enough! I wasn’t strong enough! I wasn’t smart enough! I failed Bunnie, my best friend! And now she’s half robot! Will she going to be okay? Was her mind affected? Is she still the same Bunnie that she was or is she evil now? Are there enough biological parts left that she can survive? Will her body reject her mechanical parts? Or is she going to die? Did I just get my best friend killed because I wasn’t good enough of a fighter?”

“And I’ve made a fool of myself! I thought I was called to be a hero! I thought I was supposed to stop the enemy. I truly believed that I was going to save the valley. So I ran off on my own—feeling all noble and valiant—I was such a fool! I defied orders again and again, I got myself hurt—Father’s going to lose his mind when he finds out I’ve been shot, electrocuted, knocked out in an explosion, and even captured—I’m such a failure! Father wants me to be a calm and tame princess. He wants me to stay home and be a good little girl, studying and making speeches and rules and stay home in the castle… maybe he’s right. Out here I’m just making a mess and getting people hurt.”

“It’s all nonsense! It’s all meaningless! I’m trying my hardest! I’m doing the best that I can! Everyone has been! And none of it means anything! The smallniks are still flying around somewhere wreaking havoc, the thundernik is still out there unchallenged, and the forest is still on fire. Can we even win this thing? Or are we just going to be captured and enslaved? Was it any use for dad and the others to escape through the portals to here? Have all we’ve done just delay the inevitable?”

Sally’s tears became uncontrollable. Sonic reached out once again and she melted into his arms. He silently held her as she sobbed. After a few minutes, she quieted, and he asked “what if you had stayed back in the castle with your father? What would have happened if you weren’t out there? Sally thought for a minute.

“…Bunnie might have been roboticized sooner. She may even have even been fully roboticized before you were able to destroy the machine… and Rosie and the kids… they would have been kidnapped, just like the foxes. Not just them. Arikia and the dingo pups too.” 

“See? You’ve made things difficult for the badniks. And you were there for people when they needed it, you’ve saved people. You’ve made a difference. It’s not the big victory you expected or wanted, but it is still a victory. I know things don’t look so great right now, but I think that in the end they will turn out. Everything will be okay.” Sally smiled faintly, like thin rays of sunlight breaking through a tattered storm cloud.

“Thanks Sonic. You always seem to know just what to say.” She looked around the valley, suspiciously. “No sign of badniks. What should we do now?”

“I was thinking, do you want to go check in on Bunnie and Rotor for a moment while things are calm?” Sally thought for a moment.

“Yes. Let’s do that.”

Sonic held out his arms.

“No, I don’t want you to carry me. I want to walk.”

“Okay.”

“If I’m going to return to the city, I’m going to do so on my own volition and by my own power.”

“As you wish.” He motioned downhill and bowed slightly. “After you.” 

“You know your dad wants to talk to you,” Sonic said after a few minutes.

“I don’t want to talk to him right now,” Sally snapped. “And I have no problem telling him that. To his face.”

“Oh—okay, that’s totally fine. You don’t have to talk to him.”

Together, they walked in silence toward the white west gate. 

Sally’s heart was in turmoil. She was perplexed and dismayed. Had she misinterpreted her heart? Had she misunderstood destiny? Earlier, she had been so sure! Wasn’t she called to fight Eggman? Wasn’t that her destiny? Isn’t this why she was born?

She had stopped hiding, stopped playing it safe, took a stand, and joined the fight against evil Doctor Eggman. But now? The forest was on fire; people were injured, missing, and maybe even dead. Even her best friend, Bunnie had been partially roboticized.

If this is what Sally was born to do, why was it turning out so wrong?

***

The whole world was covered in golden grass.

The feathery tips of the grain brushed the sky like nature’s paintbrushes. Sometimes they had white paint on them and they painted clouds, but today, the brushes were dry. The sky was pure deep blue and so big that it covered the whole world in a warm blanket hug.

Bunnie stood on her tiptoes and looked over the grass, watching the waves of the wind gently bend the grasses.

Ma said the prairie was the only place in the world where you could see the wind as it blew through the grass in waves. It was where the sun smiled the biggest and where the earth laughed in flowers. 

Pop said that they lived in center of the golden heart of Myrca. You had to walk a thousand miles or more in any direction to reach the ocean. The ocean is like The River, except that it is longer and wider than all of the prairies and just as deep as the sky is high.

And little brother Johnnie said there was no such place as the ocean. The only places in the world were the fruit ranch where they lived, the forever grass prairie, the rolling hills in the distance where storms came from, and The River.

Today, everything was happy.

The sun smiled warmly. The wind lightly tickled Bunnie’s fur and half-flopped ears. She ran barefoot through the grass on the warm damp earth searching for prairie flowers, especially her favorite, the sunflower. 

Bunnie found one. A sunflower, Just one. Growing taller than her head with a strong and straight stem, its spiraled face looked at the sun. Bunnie turned and faced the sun and closed her eyes, enjoying the warmth on her face. Pop said someday she’d grow up to be as tall as a sunflower. She just needed food, water, and plenty of sunshine. Just like a sunflower.

Bunnie felt safe. She wasn’t alone. Ma, Pop, and Johnnie were there. She couldn’t really see them, (their image seemed fuzzy, like heatwaves rising from the horizon) but she could feel their presence nearby, sharing her joy and bliss. 

Bunnie lay down in a cradle of grass and gazed at the sky. It was so blue. Ma said that the ocean was a different blue. A sad blue. But the prairie sky was a happy blue. Pop said that the stars and the moon were still in the sky during the day, but they were hidden by the sunlight. And Johnnie said that sky blue was his favorite color.

The warm afternoon air, the shushing of the wind in the grass, the softness of the earth lulled Bunnie into drowsiness. She didn’t like napping in her room, but she didn’t mind napping outside. She closed her eyes and waited for the oblivion of sleep. 

The wind stilled. The grass quieted. The warmth of the world gradually subsided like when the sun is setting. Then all at once, the grass quivered, like a whisper, shared by all living things. 

A warning.

Bunnie opened her eyes. The once-sapphire blue sky had faded to blue-tinged grey. Specks appeared in the distance and drifted downward like snow. She watched one flutter down and land on her nose. She reached up and touched it, but it crumbled to dust. It wasn’t snow. It was ash.

A chill wind gusted through the grass, the violent rushing sound startling Bunnie. She sat up and hugged her arms to her chest. Where had the warmth gone? Why did the sun no longer smile upon the prairie? Was a storm coming? She looked for clouds in the once-blue sky. The pale blue shifted rapidly to a greyish yellow. Echoing the sky, the golden color of the field drained away to a sickly grey.

Frost formed on the tips of the grass and crept down the blades to the earth. Bunnie felt fear rising in her belly. She jumped up. The frost coated the ground under her bare feet chilling them. The grasses turned white and fuzzy as the ice thickened and bent down toward the ground. 

Bunnie looked over the burdened grass for Ma and Pop and Johnnie. But they were nowhere to be seen. She called for them aloud, but they did not respond. She reached out with her heart but couldn’t feel their presence anymore.

Bunnie was alone.

Without warning, everything slowed and stilled. The frost stopped creeping, the flakes of ash stopped falling, the air stopped moving. The whole world was frozen. Bunnie couldn’t move except for her eyes. Instinctual dread grew and she knew. Her pounding heart thumped in her ears. This was the moment of calm before the storm. Something was coming.

BOOM.

A dull whump heralded the beginning of the end. A bright hot light radiated intense heat that heated Bunnie’s back until her frost-dampened clothes began to steam. She shaded her eyes and looked back. There it was.

The mushroom cloud. And the ring-shaped wall of wind expanding away from the base of the cloud. The Wall of Death.

Bunnie ran.

It was coming fast. The wall. The wall of sound and pain the came from the cloud. It was coming after Bunnie. Get away! Get away! But the wall was coming so fast! Leveling the grass! Kicking up the dust! Flattening the world!

Like the wide and dark maw of a predator a yawning hole suddenly opened in the ground near Bunnie. A flash of movement, like a rattlesnake striking, something sprang out of the hole and grabbed her by the waist. Bunnie screamed in horror as she was dragged into the pit. Whatever had grabbed her released its grip and she freefell down the thin shaft of light and then hit the ground hard.

CLANG. The heavy door shut and there was nothing but darkness.

Thunder rumbled in the distance. But it didn’t fade and quiet. It grew and grew and rumbled and roared like a whirlwind and Bunnie clapped her hands over her ears to stop the painful vibrations.

!!!!!BOOM!!!!!

Bunnie’s heart leapt and she flinched. The blast wave! It passed over them! She waited for the light and the voices, but they didn’t come.

Bunnie waited a minute. Why was it still dark and quiet? She remembered this happening differently. Right after the blast wave past, someone was supposed to turn on the lantern and ask if everyone was alright. But they didn’t.

Why is it so dark? Bunnie tried to ask, but she couldn’t speak. Turn on the light! And then she realized it was dark because her eyes were closed. They felt heavy and gritty as she opened them.

“How’re you feeling?” Asked a woman sitting next to her. 

“Is everyone alright? Where’s Ma and Pop? Where’s Johnnie?” Bunnie asked.

“Johnnie?” Rosie said quietly. “Oh. He’s… that was a long time ago darling.” Bunnie focused her eyes on the woman. She recognized her.

“Rosie.”

“Yes. I’m right here.” Something was wrong! It wasn’t happening how she remembered!

“Rosie! What just… there was… the explosion!” 

“Yes,” Rosie said.

“And you pulled me into that storm cellar! And after the blast wave passed, you turned on the lantern and—" Bunnie stopped. This wasn’t the cramped and dingy storm cellar. The room was long and well-lit. Instead of a pair of rough-hewn bunk beds, a row of neat, uniform metal beds lined the heavily curtained wall. She wasn’t in the cellar in the prairie.

She was in a hospital. 

“What… happened?” Bunnie asked. 

“You don’t remember?” Rosie asked worriedly. Bunnie peered through hazy memories in her mind struggling to order them and figure out what was most recent. 

Checkers.

She was fixing to play checkers with… Sundance. The raccoon baby.

“Checkers,” Bunnie began.

“Yes,” Rosie agreed.

“Checkers with Sundance after dinner.” Rosie nodded. “And then… the school bell rang!” Rosie nodded again. Bunnie could see it clearly now with her mind’s eye.

“And then robots flew through the windows! They herded us outside into a cage… they zapped you… Sally was there too… and then…” she gasped. “The machine!” 

“Sh, sh, sh, darling—” Rosie comforted.

“The machine!” Bunnie repeated. With her one good arm she gripped the blanket covering her and flipped it to the side, propped herself up on her good arm, and looked down. Her once golden-furred powerful legs were gone. Her beautiful slender left arm was replaced with an ugly sterile steel arm. “I’m… a machine.”

“No, you’re Bunnie. Bunnie O’Hare.”

“Rosie! I’m… I’m part robot!”

“It’s only your legs and arm, darling, your heart and mind are still flesh and blood.” 

“I—I can’t feel my hand. I can’t feel my—my feet, my legs, they’re… cold… dead.”

Rosie covered Bunnie’s body again with the blanket. 

“That’s enough, Bunnie, look at me. No, don’t look down again. Just look at me. Okay?”

“Rosie, are they… are they gone forever?”

“I’m—afraid so, my dear.”

“Oh.” 

They were gone.

Gone forever. 

Never again could she run barefoot through the tall grass feeling the heat of the sun in the dirt. Never again could she use her left arm to feel the velvety petals of a prairie sunflower. Never again would she brush and fluff her adorable cottontail. These new… abominations… they were cold dead weight.

“I’m… cold,” Bunnie said.

“I’ll go fetch you another blanket,” Rosie said placing her hand Bunnie’s shoulder momentarily before rising to leave. “Oh excuse me, young man,” she said to someone unseen as she passed through the doorway. Bunnie watched curiously as two large black-tipped ears and two blue eyes peeped out from behind the doorframe. A little boy stared at her with a mixture of awe and fear. At the sound of approaching footsteps, his eyes grew wide and he disappeared silently out of sight. Rosie returned with a blanket and the doctor.

“How are you feeling?” Doc Valencia asked. 

“I’m… not,” Bunnie replied. “I don’t hurt, but I don’t… feel anything… except… cold.” She shivered remembering the chill of the field before the explosion. “The metal arm and legs, they’re just… numb… dead.”

“That is to be expected for now. Let me know if they start to hurt, okay?” Bunnie nodded. Rosie returned and spread a dusty-rose-colored heavy quilt across the sterile white hospital blanket.

“Tell us straight… what do you know, doctor?” Rosie asked taking a seat again. 

The little boy’s ears and eyes popped out from around the doorframe again. When Bunnie glanced at him, he disappeared again. The doctor continued.

“It is hard to say. There have been so few cases of partial roboticization … there isn’t much to go on. I have only ever read about two or three cases before and they didn’t… From what I can tell, your condition, Bunnie is… cautiously hopeful.”

“My biggest concern, what usually happens in partial roboticization, is that the internal organs are damaged or removed and the roboticization process is stopped before adequate electromechanical systems are installed to replace them. Those individuals do not survive long. But for you, it looks like the roboticization process was stopped at just the right moment. Everything in your body is either fully robotic like your legs and arm, or fully bio-organic like your other arm. I’ve run tests and it seems that all of your internal organs and bodily systems are functioning normally. It’s nothing short of miraculous.”

“Oh thank heavens! Mah baby’s gonna live!” Rosia sighed with relief.

“But you’re not out of the woods yet. There is significant danger of infection or that your body will reject your new hardware. You’ll have to stay here until that danger has passed.”

“Will I ever be able to walk again?”

“The good news is that X-rays show that the neural interface was fully implanted in your spine, hypothetically giving your nervous system control over your mechanical limbs, but your body will have to develop new neural connections in order for it to work—that would likely be a very painful process. As far as I can tell, all the necessary hardware is there, but… will you someday be able to walk? The body of a person is so complex and this technology so advanced… there are just so many variables that it is impossible to say for sure.” 

“I’d say it’s a one in a thousand chance that someone would survive an accidentally partial roboticization. Maybe one in a million that they’d be able to control the robotic parts of them and be able to function relatively normal lives. But already you have defied the odds. Everything about this situation happened just so perfectly... I think you might just be that one in a million. It is very possible that you’ll eventually be able to control and use your robotic limbs just like regular biological limbs.”

“Y’hear that darlin’? You might walk again someday!” Rosie said cheerfully.

“I’m not generally a religious person, Bunnie,” Doc Valencia continued, “but I think someone’s looking out for you.”

A bolt of anger shot through Bunnie’s heart. Was she supposed to be happy? Was she supposed to think that she was fortunate? How could she be!? 

Bunnie was no longer a rabbit. She couldn’t walk or take care of herself, and sounded unlikely that she’d ever be able to use her robot limbs. Sure, she lived, but now she was a burden on everyone else. And she was doomed to live a half-life. Sure, she lived, but maybe it would have been better for everyone if she had died.

“I would like to have Tekno come and take a look at your robotic parts to map your new systems,” Doc Valencia continued. “We’ll have to start thinking about things like new technological “hygiene” habits such as corrosion prevention, oil servicing, software antivirus.”

“Goodness!” Rosie exclaimed.

Bunnie nodded. The doc was talking about her like she was some kind of machine, like a car. Like Bunnie was now half car.

“Is that okay if I have Tekno come?” 

Bunnie nodded.

“Are you okay, cariño?” The doctor asked with concern in her eyes. 

There it was. The dreaded question. Bunnie felt like bursting out in tears. She felt like screaming ‘no I’m not okay. Nothing is okay. It will never be okay again.’ But that wasn’t Bunnie.

Bunnie had always been cheerful, strong, and independent. The first and oldest of Rosie’s wards, the one Rosie leaned on to help with the younger children. Growing up, she had been Sally’s solid rock and anchor, helping her navigate the seas of wild and strong emotions. Amongst all the children of the valley, Bunnie had been the cheerful, optimistic one, always trying to keep up the spirits of the others. 

And now here Bunnie was. Weak. Vulnerable. Hurting. And angry. Was she okay? No. Absolutely not. Was she going to admit that? No way. Especially since that little boy hiding behind the doorway was watching her again.

“I’ll be okay,” Bunnie told them.

“Are you sure? If you—” Rosie began.

“No, it’s okay. I’m fine. Really.”

“Well if you are sure—” Doc Valencia said.

“I am,” Bunnie said curtly.

“Okay, darling. If you need anything, I’ll just be in the next room,” Rosie said. “I need to fill out some paperwork for the good doctor here.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bunnie said.

“You should rest now,” the doctor said. “Let me or Nurse Eikki know if the pain gets worse, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Bunnie repeated. 

“Get back to bed, cariño! You shouldn’t be running around!” Doc Valencia scolded the little boy as she left the room.

A big, fluffy forest cat in sea blue scrubs trundled in carrying an armful of linens. He plopped them heavily on a bare mattress two beds down from Bunnie. He paused and listened to the sounds of the battle outside, his tail switching back and forth.

“You’re the third patient in tonight. I reckon there’ll be more people in here by the end of everything,” the cat said and motioned to the pile of linens. “Just getting ready.”

“I see that,” Bunnie replied.

“What are you doing over there, little one?” The cat asked the little boy, half hidden in the doorway. “Are you spying on us?” The boy froze where he was but didn’t answer.

“Go on you, back into bed like the doctor asked.” The cat said. The little boy stepped out from his hiding spot. He was a little brown fox kit with bandages on his paws and head. He stared at Bunnie as he ran past her to the bed on the end of the row. He crawled underneath it and curled up into a little ball, with his tail covering everything except his ears. 

“No, you need to be on top of the bed, Miles,” Eikki scolded, but Miles didn’t move.

“He’s scared of me,” Bunnie said softly.

“He’s had a bad day,” said the cat. “Don’t think anything of it.”

Bunnie looked down on her robotic self and felt ashamed.

‘I’m half robot. I’m half enemy! I scare children.’ She thought. ‘I’m a monster!’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, it might be a while for the next chapter. I have some intense backstory development to take care of first. Also I’ve only loosely plotted the remaining chapters in this series. But don’t worry. I will leave no story untold.
> 
> ***
> 
> When I was a kid, I used to write disaster stories all the time. I was the malevolent deity of my imaginary worlds hell-bent of torturing my darlings in order to tell stories of their resiliency, hope, and victory. The only problem was that I sucked at writing and so my stories were more like “Mary became an orphan when her parents died in war and then she was enslaved by evil monsters. She escaped and took a perilous journey where she got gravely ill and her best friend died. But then she eventually made it home and lived happily ever after. The end.” 
> 
> One of my brothers told our piano teacher about how my stories were full of misfortune after misfortune befalling the main character and how terrible they were. I was mortified and pretty much never shared a story again with anyone until I started writing and publishing Rising Heroes here.
> 
> As a kid, I figured my writing style and content would change as I got older. I thought that I’d stop writing disaster stories and write more nuanced boring “grown-up” stories. Haha, nope! I’m still writing the same action stories, just now my writing is way better.


	11. Antoine and the King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why King Max is nice to Antoine even after his biggest screw-up ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long to get this to you guys. I had zero plot planned for the rest of this fic and had to build it from scratch. Also my Yukio story has been my primary fic recently, but I'm almost done with it now. So anyways. Yah.
> 
> Theme song is "Tell the World" by Really Slow Motion.

_The night was cold and dark and still. The wind had died down and the three brothers made camp on a flat rocky mountain summit. Infinitely the mountains spread in all directions around them with deep valleys carved between ridgelines. The moon, finally risen high enough above the peaks to be seen, cast shadows in the snow of everything that interrupted her gaze._

_Philippe coughed into his elbow a wet painful cough and then spat in the snow. Mathieu and Antoine exchanged worried glances. Mathieu moved closer to him and draped half his blanket over his brother’s back._

_“These mountains really are something aren’t they?” Philippe said wiping his mouth._

_“If the world were flat, these mountains would surely mark the edge of the world.” Mathieu said rubbing Philippe’s back._

_“They seem to be getting steeper and snowier and more dangerous the farther into them we go,” Antoine said scooting closer to the meager coal fire smoldering in the snow._

_“Maybe they are protecting us, trying to prevent us from falling off the edge of the world and into the infinite void of space.” Philippe said. He rubbed his hands together and blew on them._

_“Or they’re trying to prevent us from reaching our goal,” Mathieu countered, staring at the low flames._

_“That could be a good sign, resistance could mean that we are headed in the right direction,” Philippe said cheerfully, ever the optimist. “Hopefully, no one else has made it through ahead of us and stolen the weapon.”_

_“WE still have to make it through, though,”_

_“I don’t think we can,” Mathieu said. “The coal is running low, we are out of food, and Philippe, you are getting sick.”_

_“We can’t turn back now!” Philippe objected. “We don’t have the weapon yet!” He coughed into the ragged too-long sleeves of his peasant coat. Mathieu waited until the coughing subsided to continue._

_“We don’t even know if we are going in the right direction.”_

_“The military leaders sent us on this quest!” Philippe croaked. He cleared his throat and spat in the snow at his feet. “They said that this lost weapon IS REAL and is the key to victory._ _And they said not to come back until we’ve found it!”_

_“You honestly believe that?”_

_“Of course! Why would they lie?”_

_“They sent us to chase wisps so we don’t ruin their battle plans. As you said, Philippe, we three are the unwanted soldiers. You are the child, I am the rebel, and Antoine is the coward.”_

_“Yes, we have our faults, but we are still useful. Our leadership realized we are better suited for this task than for soldiering.”_

_“In the end, it doesn’t matter why they sent us; only that we came, and here we are, unable to go on_ _. Our last clue was no good; it led us out here to the middle of nowhere. We have no more supplies, and you are not well.”_

_“I am a soldier! The well-being of Francia comes first! I would gladly sacrifice my life if it means that Francia wins!”_

_“You’re a fool. Francia doesn’t care about you the same way. Soldiers are only pawns. Besides, we aren’t soldiers anymore—we turned in our uniforms and turned our backs on the military—and the military turned their back on us. So stop thinking like a soldier.”_

_“Our quest is bigger than the military! We are the only hope of freedom for Francia and the world! We cannot give up now! We must go on no matter the cost!”_

_“WHAT GOOD ARE YOU TO FRANCIA IF YOU ARE DEAD?!” Mathieu shouted._

_“…if you are dead?! …if you are dead?!... if you are dead?!” His words echoed through the mountains._

_Philippe shrank away from Mathiew with a slightly scared expression. His body tensed and he held back a cough. Mathieu sighed and hung his head._

_“Sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled.”_

_“No, it’s…” Philippe stopped, his words hanging on the air. It wasn’t okay was it? “Antoine, you’ve been quiet. What do you think? Should we go on or go back?”_

_“I think…” Antoine’s stared dully into the fire. “You should go back.”_

_“But…?” Mathieu prompted raising an eyebrow._

_“But I…” a pained expression crossed his face and he shifted uncomfortably on the pack he was sitting on. “I cannot. I must go on.”_

_“Don’t be idiotic!” Mathieu snapped. “If you go on, you’ll surely die! Stop being so noble. This isn’t something worth dying for!”_

_“Not worth dying for? Is not your family worth dying for? Is not the freedom of the world worth dying for? Are not all of the children of Francia worth dying for?”_

_Mathieu threw his hands up in the air. “What is it with you two? You both have a death wish or something? Am I the only reasonable person here?”_

_Philippe half smiled. “You always were the smartest one of us three.”_

_“I’m not particularly smart, I just have common sense.” Mathieu snorted. He leaned back, looked up into the starry sky, and inhaled a deep draught of midnight air. “Just look at us. We’re on an impossible mission at the end of the world.”_

_“It’s not the end of the world yet, Mathieu. And our mission isn’t impossible. You just have to believe, like me and Antoine.”_

_“I meant the end of the world geographically.”_

_“Oh. Haha—” Philippe’s giggles dissolved into coughs. The cacophony ricocheted through the rocks and ice and returned to them sounding like odd yipping._

_“I have an idea,” Mathiew said once the sound died away._

_“What?” Philippe squeaked._

_“How about this: we don’t have to go all of the way back to Francia. We can just back to the village at the foot of the mountains. We can rest, restock our supplies, and visit the last temple again. Maybe we missed something or misunderstood the clue.”_

_“I think… that would be acceptable to me.” Philippe nodded._

_“Good. What do you think, Antoine?”_

_Antoine didn’t answer. He just kept staring pensively in the fire._

_“Antoine?” Philippe asked with concern in his voice._

_“I’m sorry… I can’t.” Antoine’s voice cracked._

_“And… why not?” Mathieu asked critically._

_“I… just…” he took a deep breath and exhaled. “It’s just that we have come so far. What if what we seek is just over there? Just beyond the next ridge?” Antoine pointed along the line of summits before them. “Wouldn’t it be foolish to stop just short of our goal?”_

_“We’re not giving up, Antoine, we are only stepping back for a little while,” Mathieu said. “We will try again later.”_

_“That isn’t good enough! I must go on!” The force in his voice caught the others by surprise._

_“You are not stupid, Antoine,” Mathieu puzzled. “I know you understand our logic. You know as well as I do that this is the wisest choice, so there must be something else going on. What compels you to carry on to certain death?”_

_“Um… my father.” Antoine looked down sheepishly._

_“Your father is faraway in Francia. He has no power over you here.”_

_“I… all my life, I have been a no good son.”_

_“Surely, that’s not—” Philippe started._

_“It is true!” Antoine cut him off with anguish in his voice._

_“It is true! It is true! It is true!” The mountains repeated._

_“I’m sorry, but it is true,” Antoine continued with a softer voice. “All my life I have not been good enough. Not clever enough, not strong or fast enough, not brave enough… I am not the son he wanted, not the son that a general deserves! My whole life is one big disappointment to him, especially my disgraceful duty history! But this… this quest is the first time I have felt like I am not an embarrassment. We are making progress. We have successfully evaded the enemy and followed the clues this far. This is the first time I am actually doing good. So I cannot give up. I cannot stop now. If I turned back, if I gave up—even for just a moment—I would once again be a shame, a disgrace, an unworthy son, and that to me is a fate worse than death.”_

_“You really feel that way about your father?” Mathieu asked._

_“I have failed him every day of my life since I was born. But this time, I won’t fail him. I can’t fail him again. Either I’ll succeed in this quest and bring salvation to Francia or I’ll die trying. And whether I live or die, it will be with honor, something my father can finally be proud of.”_

_“I think your father would prefer a humble yet living son than a heroic dead one,” Phillipe said. “I know that I’d prefer my brother to be alive for many years to come, no matter how dishonorable or shameful his father makes him feel, for I know the truth. You are willing to go on even in the face of mortal danger, and that makes you the most honorable and brave of us all.”_

_“I am flattered, but I think you misunderstand. The only reason I continue forward is that I am too scared to go back. I only talk brave to try and encourage myself. My Father is right. I’m a scaredy cat and a coward. I am sorry, little brother, I cannot go back. I cannot face him.”_

_“Hmph!” Philippe crossed his arms. “We are the Brothers Three. We won’t leave you!”_

_“Don’t be foolish. You will die if you follow me.”_

_“If you want us to live, you’ll have to come back with us to the village!”_

_“Philippe, you are such a child!” Antoine sighed. “If you really love Francia, you will let me go.”_

_“We love you more than Francia.”_

_“You don’t really mean that.”_

_“Of course we do! Right, Mathieu?”_

_“It is true, Antoine,” Mathieu nodded. A bittersweet smile crept across Antoine’s face._

_“I have never had family like this before, family that loved me no matter what.”_

_“Well now you do!” Philippe chirped._

_“Thank you, brothers! You mean the world to me!”_

_“So this means you’re coming back with us, right?”_

_Antoine’s smile faded. He shook his head._

_“No. I cannot.”_

_“It’s suicide to go on!” Mathieu exclaimed._

_“No one knows what fate or destiny those distant mountains hold, but I do know that going back would be a fate worse than death. If you love me, you will let me go.”_

_“Antoine, are you sure about this?” Philippe asked quietly._

_“There is no turning back from this decision,” Mathieu added._

_“I am sure.”_

_The three brothers were quiet for a moment. Then suddenly Philippe ripped the blanket off his shoulders and held it out toward Antoine._

_“Take my blanket!”_

_“What?” Antoine looked at it confused._

_“Take it!” Philippe thrust it into Antoine’s chest. “I cannot be there with you, but maybe I can still help keep you warm.”_

_“I will accept your blanket, but only in exchange. You cannot go without one. So here, take mine.”_

_“I give you mine as well,” Mathieu said._

_“Keep it. You cannot go without a blanket either.”_

_“There are two of us and one blanket to stay warm all night. You are only one person so you must have the other two blankets. It is only equal.”_

_“Philippe is right,” Antoine smiled. “You were always the smart one.”_

_“And you were always the dramatic one,” Mathieu smirked._

_“It will be like we never left eachother!” Philippe said._

_“We are three brothers, but we are One,” Mathieu agreed._

_“What have I done to deserve you?” Antoine cried wiping tears from his eyes. “Thank you, brothers!”_

_“We love you, Antoine!” Philippe beamed. He leapt up and threw his arms around Antoine. Mathieu stood and joined the embrace._

_“I love you, too!” Antoine gushed._

_Over his brothers’ shoulders, Antoine saw the moon. And he knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, it was time._

_“Brothers!” He stepped back. “The moon is rising.”_

_“What are you talking about?” Philippe and Mathieu glanced over their shoulders at the sky._

_“The moon has risen high enough to see our paths and we don’t have any food. It is time to part ways.”_

_“But it is the middle of the night! Can’t we at least have one last night together?” Philippe begged._

_“There isn’t time. Our strength will not last forever and we must go as far we can with what strength we have.”_

_“With any luck, you’ll find the lost city before we can get back to the village,” Mathieu said._

_“I hope so!” Antoine said._

_“What shall we tell him… your father?” Mathieu asked._

_“Tell him… I got lost. You did not find any secret city or mighty warriors, that there is no key to victory to be found… actually no, tell him that I fell off a mountain and died, that way he won’t come looking for me… no, that won’t do either. I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell him. You two can decide as you travel back. I think in the end, it doesn’t matter.”_

_It took only a few minutes to pack their meager possessions in their knapsacks. Antoine rolled up Philippe’s blanket and fastened it to his pack. Mathiew’s blanket he tied around his neck like a child’s pretend cloak._

_“Are you ready, brothers?” Mathieu asked. The others nodded. Philippe’s lip trembled but he didn’t cry as he hugged Antoine one last time._

_“Don’t be sad little brother,” Antoine comforted. “This isn’t goodbye; I will see you again.” Philippe and Mathieu didn’t say anything, but their expressions showed that they didn’t believe him. Mathieu gripped Antoine’s hand in a firm two-handed shake and then they hugged._

_“Try to have hope, Brother, try to believe.” Antoine said._

_“Just… stay out of trouble. And don’t you dare die.”_

_“I won’t. I promise.”_

_Mathieu stepped back and their hands separated. Antoine waved._

_“Goodbye and farewell, brothers.”_

_“Goodbye Antoine! Godspeed!”_

_“Bye Big Brother! Bye!”_

_Antoine turned southward and Mathieu and Philippe turned north._

_They left the fire still burning like a beacon on the lonely mountaintop, the only witness to the parting of the brothers._

_“What… should we tell Antoine’s father?” Phillipe asked after Antoine was no longer visible._

_“There’s only one thing we can tell him…” Mathieu said. “The truth.”_

***

“AAAAAHHHH!!” Antoine screamed as he ran downhill toward the city gate. His momentum carried him faster and faster. He stumbled, his legs unable to keep up. He needed to slow down!

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

Dirt exploded upward from around his feet. If he slowed, they would catch him! He tripped and tumbled. He curled up into a ball and rolled head over heels. He tucked his ears back and wrapped his hands behind his neck. A lump of earth jabbed his back just next to his spine and surely would leave a bruise. Clack clack slack clack his sheathed sword smacked the ground and tugged at his belt every revolution of his roll. A blast of electricity ignited the fur on his tail briefly, but it was immediately snuffed out when he rolled over it. He cried out more from alarm than from pain.

Faster and faster Antoine rolled downhill until the world became a smeared swirl of earth-toned colors interrupted by flashes of brilliant blue blaster blasts. He clamped his eyes shut.

KA-THUNK!

Antoine’s protective ball cracked open and he splayed across the ground against the wall of the city. He opened his eyes and saw stars dancing on a spinning background. His stomach turned over and he groaned. Someone appeared over him and roughly grabbed his arm and yanked him off the ground. They half-supported-half-dragged Antoine through the gap in the gate and spilled him back onto the ground.

“Are you alright?” His rescuer pulled up to sit up and held his face in his hands.

“Ze world won’t stop ze spinning.” Antoine moaned, his eyes going in circles.

SNAP!

A blaster blast struck the ground next to them and they felt the tingle of electricity as it dissipated into the flagstone road. The person dragged Antoine by his armpits backward away from the opening.

“Should I close the gate, sir?” Someone asked loudly. Antoine couldn’t tell if they were male or female.

“No leave it open. It won’t stop or even slow the buggers,” the rescuer replied, his voice vaguely familiar to Antoine.

SLAP! Antoine’s head jerked to the side.

“Snap out of it!”

“Oi!” Antoine reached up and touched his smarting cheek. His eyes focused on the face on front of him…

It was King Maximilian Acorn himself.

“Aii!” Antoine yelped. “Yyyyyyour majesty!”

“Don’t call me that,” the King snapped. He glanced over his shoulder at the sound of arrows whistling through the air and impacting metal. One of the drones crashed with a crunch, bounced and rolled through the gate. The King stood up, ripped a grenade out of his belt pouch and yanked the pin.

“Sakura! Incoming!” He tossed it out through the gate then turned and shielded Antoine with his body. “Close your eyes!”

neeerrrRRROOOOOOOMMMMmmmmth

The grenade emitted a loud noise and an intense light for a few seconds then died out.

The King backed up. Antoine tilted his head to the side with a bewildered expression.

“Shock grenade. Capable of momentarily disorienting any biological or electronic attackers.”

“…what?”

“It’ll buy us a minute or two. Sakura! Shoot them while they’re down!”

“Yes, sir!” Sakura replied. Arrows sang through the air.

“Are you alright?” The King scanned Antoine’s body for any obvious injuries.

“Yes… I think so,” Antoine said.

“What happened out there? Where’s Sally?” The King asked.

The memories of what happened punched Antoine in the gut. The King stared at him intensely, analyzing his expressions.

“What happened to Sally?”

“I…” Antoine squeaked.

“TELL ME!” The King shook his shoulders. “TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO MY DAUGHTER!”

“I—I LEFT HER IN ZE FOREST!” Antoine squealed.

“What do you mean?” The King demanded icily.

“I…” Antoine’s voice failed when he realized what he’d just done.

“Where did you leave her? What was she doing? Why are there so many smallniks chasing you?”

Tears filled Antoine’s eyes and he shrank away from the King.

“We don’t have time for this foolishness. YOU WILL ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW.”

“I AM A COWARD!” Antoine cried out.

“WHAT?!”

“I AM A COWARD!” Antoine blubbered.

“WHY ARE YOU SAYING THAT?”

“I RAN AWAY FROM ZE BATTLE! I FACED ZE ENEMY AND I RAN AWAY! I LEFT—I LEFT ZE PRINCESS ALL ALONE TO FIGHT ZE HOARD OF ZE EVIL FLYING ROBOTS! I FAILED! I LET HER DOWN! I AM ZE WORST SOLDIER ZERE EVER WAS!”

“How many?”

“Ze princess counted seventeen!”

“It looks like eight of them followed Antoine down the hill,” Sakura observed. Neither the King nor Sakura said it, but they both were calculating whether Sally could take on all nine remaining smallniks.

“Where were you?” The King asked.

“In ze forest! North of ze last orchard. Ze nasty little robots built a… built a… roblotiflier.”

“A roboticizer?!”

“Oui! And zey ‘ad captured four villagers, an old lady and three children!"

“An old woman and a bunch of kids?” Sakura said. “That sounds like—”

“Miss Rosie!” The King exclaimed. He turned back to pathetic coyote cowering on the ground. “So you deserted the princess, an old woman, and a bunch of children?”

“YES! Yes, I did! Because I was too frightened to fight the enemy I faced! And I deserve to die for my desertion!”

The King approached Antoine, bent down, and withdrew Antoine’s sword from the sheath. Antoine whimpered and scrunched his eyes closed. Long ago, in the mountains, Antoine had told his brothers that no matter if he lived or died, he would do so with honor. It looks like he was wrong. Antoine waited for the death blow to come, but nothing happened. Antoine peeked his eyes open again. The king had stepped back and stood with the sword hanging in his hand.

“I’m not going to kill you,” the King said. “Stand up.” Antoine eyed him suspiciously, afraid of a trap. He jumped violently when something clanged loudly against the outer wall.

“It’s fine, Sakura can handle them.”

Antoine stood up. His face was tear-streaked, his clothes torn and dirty, and patches of his fur were singed. Everything in his body language portrayed his fear and shame. Antoine looked away at the ground.

“Is this your first time facing battle, soldier?” The King asked with a gentler tone. Antoine looked up, surprised, and nodded once. The King pointed to a small building behind him.

“You see that shed over there?” Antoine nodded.

“That shed is full of technology—advanced technology. We don’t really understand what it is for, but it apparently was very important to the previous inhabitants of this city.”

“What does that—”

“I want you to protect it.”

“Protect ze… shed?”

“Yes. Stand over there by it and if any smallniks come within sword-reach, strike them down.”

“Strike zem down?!”

“Stand like this.” The King positioned his body facing toward the gate but angled. Antoine obediently copied him.

“Good. Now take this.” The King held out Antoine’s sword back to him. Antoine looked down at it then back up at the King.

“Come on! Take it! I’m not going to hurt you!” Antoine took the sword.

“Now position the sword like this, and when the time comes, move it like this.” The King drew his own sword and thrust it upward into an imaginary smallnik. Antoine copied him, familiar with the move from his childhood swordfighting lessons.

“Yes! Good! Exactly like that!”

“What if zey—”

“You’ll be fine,” The King dismissed him. “I noticed that they’re not trying to kill you, or any of the villagers for some reason. I think that the worst thing that could happen is you may end up taking a little unexpected nap.” Antoine narrowed his eyebrows and cocked his head. It was true, they hadn’t been trying to kill him. But why?

“You aren’t alone in this battle. You have me and Sakura to protect you if anything goes wrong.” Antoine looked up at the rabbit. She crouched between the wall slots and shot arrow after arrow in a rhythmic pattern.

“Why… are you doing zis? Why are you…”

“Giving you another chance?”

“Oui—yes.”

“Are you willing to stand with me and defend this city’s walls?”

“I will try my best.”

“Good. That is all that matters. It would be unwise of me to imprison or execute a trained soldier when we have so few.”

The King faced the enemy and positioned his sword with a faraway look on his face.

“And… you remind me of someone I lost a long time ago.” Antoine looked at him curiously.

“What about ze princess? And ze captured villagers? Zey are in trouble!”

“It is the duty of the deployed squads to handle that situation. It is our duty to defend the city and we cannot leave our post. And… despite her incorrigible recklessness, I am confident in my daughter’s abilities.”

“You are ze King. Why don’t you stay in ze safety of ze Palace of Towers?”

“Once my fighters had their orders, I prepared for war. I am highly trained and not afraid of violence. Let it not be said that this King doesn’t fight in the war himself.”

“I can’t hold them back any longer!” Sakura shouted from the top of the wall.

“Let them come.” King Max replied.

“Zere zey are!” Antoine yipped.

“Stand your ground, soldier!” King Max charged into the fray. “FOR THE PEOPLE!”

One of the smallniks flew directly at him. Antoine’s scream of fear joined the King’s war cry.

“YAAAAH!” All of his muscles screamed for him to flee, but his mind overruled them and he forced his trembling legs to stay glued to his spot. He raised his sword and aimed. The smallnik’s legs blazed neon blue and reached for him. Antoine waited until he could see the silver mechanical iris of the beetle’s evil eye and then he struck, channeling all of his nervous energy into a single thrusting motion straight through the center of the beetle. Antoine yelped and jumped away, letting the beetle’s momentum carry it into the ground. A few seconds after it stopped sizzling, he opened his eyes. The beetle lay smoking on the ground.

Antoine had destroyed it. He had defeated his very first enemy.

“Way to go!” Sakura cheered. Antoine grinned and looked to the king. He nodded approvingly.

“Now grab your sword. They’ve withdrawn to regroup but they’ll quickly return.”

Antoine tapped the smallnik with his foot. It didn’t move. He gingerly kicked it over revealing the sword hilt partially embedded in the metallic body of the beetle. He grabbed it and pulled it out, cringing at the awful sound of metal scraping on metal.

“Pee-yoo!” He wrinkled his nose as grey fluid ran down the length of the sword.

“Get ready, troops, the next wave approaches!” The King warned. Antoine gripped his sword and held it up again, ready to attack.

***

_Godforsaken._

_That’s what these endless mountains were._

_Weak from hunger and cold, Antoine struggled through the deep snow as he zigzagged between the colossal peaks. Around every bend in the path, he hoped to see evidence of the secret city, or even just a village or farm where he could shelter but there was nothing. Only more mountains._

_A cold breeze cut through his layers of clothing and Antoine hugged Mathieu’s blanket a little tighter around his shoulders. He coughed but didn’t bother to cover his mouth. It seemed he caught whatever Philippe had. The sun, which hadn’t risen very far above the mountain peaks descended behind the ridgeline again, shrouding Antoine in deep shadow, but he couldn’t stop. If he did, he might not get up again._

_Antoine felt like an utter fool for choosing to carry on alone and ill-equipped. His father would be ashamed. It didn’t seem to matter so far away. Here, Colonel D’Coolette had no power; no control of mother nature, of the dangerous, desolate, beautiful wild. Perhaps Antoine had made up for his life of cowardice with this one last desperate gesture to save the world. The years of shame, the weight of disgrace that he carried began to crystallize and shatter, falling away like the snowflakes off his trampling boots. Antoine almost began to feel at peace._

_Antoine stumbled, but regained his balance. He knew he couldn’t make it much farther. He shed his pack in the snow but kept the two blankets. He stumbled again. Must keep going. Ever onward. Was it just his mind playing tricks on him or was he headed more downhill? He tripped and tumbled head over heels down the mountain slope. He lost Mathieu’s blanket but he managed to hold on to Philippe’s. At the bottom, he stopped and lay still, too tired for a long time to move. But a snowflake in his ear roused him. ‘If I die and buried here in the snow and glaciers, no one will ever find me. No one will ever know what happened. I must keep going. I must save Francia’_

_He slowly eased to his feet and wrapped the last blanket around himself tightly. He looked up at the alpenglow-hued snow-blown peaks and shouted a battle cry. “Viva La Francia!” His words echoed and resounded through the peaks. Antoine, with a momentary surge of strength started running, propelled by the momentum of going downhill. For a brief moment, he was totally free and strong and brave, and his victory was assured._

_But he stumbled and fell. He stayed on his hands and knees and coughed. I’m sorry, father, I’m sorry Mathieu and Philippe! I’m sorry Francia! I tried my best. I’m sorry world, I have failed you. The coughing spell passed and Antoine sat in the snow gazing at the beauty around him. ‘At least if I die, it is in a beautiful place.’ He let himself fall to his back and stared at the sky._

_“Don’t worry, son, we got you.” A voice spoke. “You’re going to be okay!” Antoine opened his eyes, but the world was fuzzy and dark._

_“Up on your feet soldier,” they lifted him to his feet. Antoine leaned heavily on them and they made their way downhill._

_“What were you doing up in the mountains all alone? Did you get lost? What is your name?” One asked. Antoine tried to speak but his mind was too muddled and everything was too cold._

_The next thing he knew, he was in a warm rustic lodge wrapped in blankets and surrounded by several foxes and a dog._

_“You’re a lucky coyote. If that fox patrol had found you any later, you would have died,” the dog said. “What’s your name?”_

_Antoine tried to speak but could only cough._

_“Never mind, then. No need to speak. Just nod or shake your head. Okay?” Antoine nodded._

_“Do you know where you are?” Antoine shook his head._

_“You are at the Fox Lodge.” Antoine shrugged._

_“He looks confused,” one of the foxes said._

_“That is good, I suppose,” another fox said. “He doesn’t know where this place is.”_

_“He probably wandered into the mountains and got lost, poor thing.”_

_“Is that what happened?” The dog asked. Antoine shook his head._

_“He’s saying no!” The foxes chattered to eachother. “Did you come here intentionally?” Antoine didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t know where ‘here’ was. He shrugged again._

_“He’s obviously an outsider. The King will want to know about him.” A whitish fox stated._

_“Are you an enemy? A spy?” A young red fox pointed a spear in his face. An older black fox pushed the spear away._

_“How did you find us?” A brown fox asked._

_“What do you know about us?” A rusty fox asked._

_“Does anyone else know about us?"_

_“Alright, that’s enough,” said the dog. “He needs to rest. And he needs to be quarantined. Don’t let anyone—especially the children—in here except me, Tuya, or Cheyenne.”_

_“Yes, ma’am!” The foxes filed out except for one and the dog._

_“I’m sorry, where are my manners?” the dog asked. “I forgot to introduce myself. I am Doctor Valencia Castillo. I am the head doctor for the clinic in the city of Neopolis.”_

_“And I’m Sergeant Amadeus Prower, the squad leader for the patrol that found you and brought you back.”_

_“Thank you.” Antoine croaked._

_“Don’t thank me, thank my brother-in-law, Dusty. He—had a dream last night about… well… he is the one who told us we ought to patrol that specific area of the mountains… so we did, and we found you found you.”_

_“You are one lucky coyote,” Doctor Valencia reaffirmed. “But enough. You need rest. When you are well enough, the foxes will bring you to the city where you will likely meet with the King and he’ll decide what to do with you.”_

_***_

_Two weeks later, Antoine was well enough to make the journey south to Neopolis. A fox soldier and a quirky northern cat escorted him. They traveled through forest that was dense at first, but then thinned out. It gave way to orchards, vinyards, and farmland. They passed through a village the cat called Acorn Village. Children stared out from the schoolhouse windows at them. Antoine was surprised at how diverse the area was. Animals of all species lived there, from common woodland creatures like rabbits, to farm animals like pigs, and even exotic animals like a koala and a walrus. How did this come to be? Antoine wondered._

_“Look there! The Tower Palace! We are almost there.” The fox pointed. It was spectacular. On top of a gently sloping hill was a white palace made entirely of many towers of varying heights. A long white plaster wall stretched in either direction downhill from the palace. An arching gateway was guarded by several militiamen, each a different species. They passed through the gate and immediately turned into the palace courtyard._

_“State your business.” One guard said._

_“We are escorting the outsider to see the king.”_

_“Proceed.” They ventured forward and the fox soldier lead them through labyrinthian passageways of the palace. Finally, they arrived in the throne room of the King, a middle-aged squirrel._

_“Ah, greetings Sergeant Jetta. Is this the outsider who was found in the mountains?”_

_“Yes sir.”_

_“Pleased to be meeting you, your majesty. I am Antoine D’Coolette.”_

_“Hmm? So Antoine D’Coolette? Where might you be from?”_

_“I am from the capitol city of Francia, Panem.”_

_“What were you doing in our mountains so far from Francia?”_

_“I… I was lost.”_

_“Why were you in the mountains in the first place?”_

_“Well, uh, my two brothers and I heard a legend about the Lost City of Heroes and how they had a weapon or technology that could help fight and win the war against Eggman. We decided to go and try to find it and ask for help. My older and younger brothers turned back, because we ran out of food and little Philippe had fallen ill. But I kept going.”_

_“Why?”_

_“I… couldn’t face my father if I came home empty-handed. And the fate of all of Francia and the world depends on finding the city and the weapon and using it to fight Eggman.”_

_“How did you know to look in the Snaggletooth mountains?”_

_“Well, ze rumor said zat ze city was in zis region and I asked myself, ‘if I was a lost city, where would I be?’ and I figured zat I would be in ze most rural, uninhabitable, hardest-to-reach place which was most likely in ze Snaglytooth Mountains.”_

_“Who else knows about this place?”_

_“I do not know. Not many people, I should think. Maybe just me and my brothers. Are you saying zat zis is the Lost City of Heroes?”_

_“…No. It is not.”_

_“But ze city is so isolated! Surely it must be! Do you not have any weapon or technology or heroes to help in ze war?”_

_“No, I am afraid we have nothing to offer. No defense or offense against the enemy except our small militia. No, we are nothing more than a collection of refugees living simply in farms, villages, and the ruins of an ancient city. I’m afraid your legend has led you astray and your efforts were in vain. We are not who you seek and we have nothing to offer.”_

_“Surely, you have at least something to offer, not nothing, no?”_

_“We have nothing. Not even our heroes of old.”_

_Antoine was crushed._

_“Zen zere is no hope left. Francia will fall.” The king stretched out his hand and set it on Antoine’s shoulder._

_“I am sorry.”_

_“I… don’t know what to do now… there is nowhere for me to go.”_

_The King thought for a moment._

_“Maybe there is one thing we could offer you.”_

_“What?”_

_“Shelter.”_

_“Here?”_

_“Yes. As far as I am concerned, you are a refugee, just like the rest of the people here. You would be welcome to stay in the valley for as long as you like.”_

_“This valley feels… safe. I think I would like to stay here._

_“I will write a letter for you to take to Noah Dingo. He is a builder and can build you a house wherever you like. When you are fully recuperated, you can take up a job wherever you have skills. How does that sound?”_

_“Good. Thank you.”_

_“You are welcome, young Antoine D’Coolette.”_

_After the coyote had been escorted out, King Max paced his study._

_He should have been harsher with the stranger. An outsider seeking a legendary lost city had actually found their hidden sanctuary. If he had found it, others could as well. Besides, he knew the youth was hiding his true identity. Colonel D’Coolette only had one offspring, and there was no way that he’d allow to not follow in his military footsteps._

_But there was something about the young man. Something familiar that struck a nerve—the timidity, the emotion hiding behind his words, the earnestness of his pleas… it reminded him of…_

_King Max opened the drawer of his desk and lifted a stack of blank official stationery. He pulled out a child’s drawing done in crayon. Four figures, two adults and two children, stood in a forest meadow of blue flowers under a happy yellow sun. He traced the drawing of the smallest child, his long-lost son Elias. This was the only picture left of Elias who died when he was four, but somehow, he had seen a little bit of him in this new stranger._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There hasn't been any reason to really mention it in the story yet, but Specialist Sakura is MtF trans.
> 
> Me: *Gets under the covers to go to bed*  
> Me: Witness me as I descend into the void of darkness. If I do not emerge in eight hours’ time, go on without me.  
> Cat: *Attacks my feet.*  
> Me: There isn't much hope for safe return. Already the creatures of the night attack my sole.


	12. Regroup

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonic and Sally have their first fight as a couple as Rotor commentates. Then the mayor of Neopolis arrives and suggests mutiny to which Sally agrees because yeah, she’s kinda pissed at her dad. And a disgruntled Bunnie just wants to watch the world burn.

“Here you go Sally,” Sonic said opening the hospital door for her. “I’ll be back soon!”

“Na-ah!” Sally caught Sonic’s arm with lightning speed. “Not so fast, buster!”

“Heyyy! What’re you doing?” Sonic complained.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“What’s with the hostility all of a sudden?”

“What happened to checking in on Rotor and Bunnie while things are calm?”

“I’m here, checking—” he poked his head in, looked around and popped back out the door. “—and they’re both here and alive. Now there’s things to do! Robots to smash! Fire to put out!”

“Now just hold on a minute! That’s not what I meant by checking in!”

“Sally! Let me go! You know I can’t stay!”

“Just calm down! You’ve been at it longer and harder than anybody else in the valley! You need a break just as much as I do! When was the last time you ate?”

“How can I take a break when there are people in trouble? And I don’t suppose you have any chili dogs in your pocket do you?”

“You can have my food,” Rotor piped up. Sally and Sonic looked at him sitting up in the last bed in the row with a tray on his lap. “Hospital food. Worse than my own cooking. And I don’t even cook. I usually just eat fish raw.”

“Ew!” Sally stuck out her tongue.

“Emm, no thanks Rote,” Sonic said, then sniffed the air. “Wait, is that…?”

“You bet it is,” Rotor said.

“Chili?!”

“That’s right. But no dogs, though. Just chili and corn—” Sonic zoomed over and wolfed it down in one bite and chugged the milk and coffee. “—bread. Oookay, I knew you were fast, but that was… fast.”

“Ah. Refreshing.” Sonic patted his belly contentedly. His expression changed suddenly as his stomach churned and grumbled. “Actually, I’m not so sure… oh. BLUUURRRPP! Excuse me.”

“Ew again,” Sally said. “You have no manners. No wonder my dad doesn’t like you.”

“Okay! Much better! Now I’m off to save the world!”

“Ah-ah-ah!” Sally grabbed his arm as he ran by her. He jerked to a stop.

“What’s the big deal? I took a break! Now it’s time to get cracking again!”

“You can’t just go run off all half-cocked with no idea what’s going on!”

“Robots bad. Fire bad. That’s all I need to know!” Sonic shrugged.

“Yes, that’s right. It doesn’t matter where the trapped civilians are or what areas the militia squads are already covering or which fields and orchards have the greatest fire danger."

“Wait, was that sarcasm?” Rotor asked.

“I was gonna figure all that out, Sally!” Sonic whined. “I’m planning to do a quick little lap around the entire valley.”

“Sure, you could do that or I could just tell you and you could go straight there.”

“What’s the big deal? Just let me go do my thing! I’ll meet up with you—”

“When you what? When you save the day all by yourself? You know we’re supposed to work together, all of the combatants are supposed to coordinate like a team!”

“Well it’s not like you’ve been much of a team player yourself from what I’ve heard.”

“Ohhhh! Burrrn!” Rotor said.

“Yeah? And what have you heard? That my father’s battle plans suck? I can’t help it if he—”

“Oh-okay. Fine. Whatever. Where would you like me to go, your highness?” Sonic bowed.

“I can’t believe it!” Rotor gushed. “I’m witnessing their first fight as a couple! How adorab—”

“Shut up, Rotor!” Sonic and Sally exclaimed.

“I’ll shut up now.”

“OY!” Rosie squawked, straightening up in the chair she was sleeping in next to Bunnie’s bed. “Cannae a woman get some sleep in peace in a hospital fer cryin’ out loud?”

“Sorry, Rosie.” Sally said.

“Yeah. Sorry.” Sonic said.

“If ye goin’ ta fight, take it somewhere else. You’ll wake mah Bunnie-girl.”

“How is she? Bunnie? You awake?” Sally approached the prone figure of her best friend under a pile of blankets.

“Ach! Don’ try to wake her! She just got tah sleep.”

“How is she?” Sally asked in a quieter voice.

“Well… That lady doctor said it’s nothin’ short of miraculous. The roboti—robotization process was stopped at just the perfect moment an’ she’s pretty sure Bunnie will live and she might even walk again.”

“That’s great news! I’m so relieved!” Sally gushed.

“Actually, I’m pretty relieved too,” Sonic said.

“Frankly, I’m more worried about her mind. When she was awake, she just seemed so… tense… and angry.”

“And rightfully so!” Sally said.

“You know Bunnie, she was trying to act all strong, but ah know my girl and ah know she was hidin’ her true feelins.”

“Yeah… that sounds about right.” Sally came to Bunnie’s side. “Hey Bunnie, if you can hear me, I just want you to know that we’ll get through this together, no matter how hard it is. I’m here for you! You’re my best friend! So don’t give up okay?”

“That was very nice of ye. You’re a good friend.”

“I just wish I could do more.”

“And how are ye holdin’ up darlin?”

“I’m alright.”

“How’s your arm, Sally?” Rotor asked.

“I’ve pretty much got all of the feeling back, now, thanks.”

“You look none the worse for wear,” Rotor said to Sonic.

“Yeah, I’m pretty resilient. Don’t take this the wrong way, Rote, but… you look terrible.”

“Yeah. I kinda got electrocuted so strongly that my heart stopped. Apparently, they had to shock my heart to get it going again, but I don’t really remember anything.”

“That’s because ye were dead,” Rosie snorted.

“So when will you be up and around, Rotor?” Sonic asked.

“Well, the Doc said I’m doing great considering, but she doesn’t want me getting up and going back into the fray tonight. Or for like a week. Or maybe two… weeks.”

“That sucks. We really could use you out there,” Sonic said.

“If the Doc wants him to stay put, then he’s staying put.” Sally said. “You’ve done plenty, Rotor, we can take it from here.”

“Soooo… What are you guys going to do?”

“I’ve been asking the same question.” Sonic said.

Sally sighed. “I… don’t know.”

“How are things going out there?”

“Not so good,” Sally said.

“It’s not all bad,” Sonic said. “As far as we know, all the villagers who were captured have been rescued… well… except… you know…”

“Oh?” Rotor asked, and then the realization hit him. “Oh! The foxes!” Rotor looked around the room and whispered loudly “What about that little fox boy? _”_

“Oh!” Sonic’s eyes went wide. “Oh man! That’s right! He’s around here somewhere isn’t he?”

“Are you going to tell him?” Sonic looked panicked.

“Oh, um, I hadn’t thought too much about that. I guess um yeah, at some point.”

“Oh geez! He’s going to cry!” Rotor said anxiously. “I hate it when kids cry! Poor little thing is all alone now! Oh man, oh man! What if he overheard you? He’s been running around the room hiding in corners and under beds.”

“Ye can relax, tusks,” Rosie said. “I heard that foreign cat nurse say they put the poor babbey to bed in his own room since he wouldn’t settle down here in the main ward.”

“Whew! So we’re safe!”

“For now… but it just delays the inevitable,” Sonic said anxiously.

“…yeah. I guess so…”

“It’s fine Sonic, it’s hardly appropriate to tell him now,” Sally said. “He’s been hurt and we’re still in the middle of a battle.”

“You’re right. Speaking of which…” Sonic eyed the door.

“You’re insufferable, you know that?”

“Nope. I’m just the fastest thing alive!”

“You don’t even know what insufferable means, do you?”

“Nope. Don’t need to.”

“Okay, so before we make our next move, we need current intel.”

“Aaand who’s going to tell us that? Pretty sure nobody here—”

“I might be able to help you,” an accented voice remarked as he softly closed the door. It was Ekambar the Falcon, mayor of Neopolis.

“Mayor Ekambar?” Sally exclaimed.

“Yes, my lady, I have just flown around the valley on a scouting mission for the King and I am here to tell you everything I know.”

“Yes, please!”

“The injured members of the Alpha and Bravo squads are sheltering in the schoolhouse with the medic team and Private Fatima from Gamma squad is serving as their guardian. The remaining forces of Alpha and Bravo have combined to form what Sergeant Ornan is calling Delta Squad. They are combing the village for badniks and villagers in trouble. Gamma squad, the coyote newcomer, and the King himself are defending the city’s gates and walls from the smallniks.”

“I don’t know which is more surprising, that my father or that coyote is out there fighting!” Sally said. “What about the enemy?”

“I estimate there are eleven smallniks remaining; they are primarily staying in the villages, although a few are trying to gain entrance to the city, but Gamma squad is holding them at bay for now. The thundernik continues his slow journey southward toward the city, torching all in its path. It is only a mile or two from the outermost orchards. The wildfire is mostly contained along the path of the thundernik, but the northern edge of the valley, where the foxes lived, is all but a smoking field of coals and ash.”

“Not good. What about the rest civilians?”

“Ah, I’m glad you asked. While the majority of the civilians are sheltering-in-place, there are a number of them who are standing outside awaiting your orders.”

“What?! Here?!”

“Uhh, you might want to take a look!” Sonic said peering through the corner of the blackout curtains. He moved out of the way and Sally looked into the darkness.

“Oh! What are they all doing out there?! Have them come in here! It isn’t safe outside!”

“You heard the lady,” Ekambar said, opening the door. Citizens of all species and occupations piled into the hospital ward.

“Mayor Ekambar, what are all of you doing here?”

“We can help! We can fight!” Noah Dingo said.

“We’ve faced battle before and we aren’t afraid to do it again,” said Sarai the lynx, mayor of Cypress Village.

“The soldiers in the militia are either very young or very old while we are still in prime fighting condition,” Trey the goat, the city groomer said. “We won’t stand by and do nothing as our children fight and are injured protecting us. It isn’t right.”

“They are here because they all volunteered,” Ekambar said.

“If you all want to help, why are you coming to me and not my father?” Sally asked.

“He wouldn’t let us help,” said Charles the hedgehog, the salty old café keeper.

“He won’t listen to reason!” Exclaimed Elili, Ekambar’s passionate fourteen-year-old daughter.

“Mind your tongue in front of the princess, Elili,” Ekambar said.

“He just wants us to stay hidden, stay safe, but that isn’t a good use of our skills when we can make a difference.” said Maria Rabbit, mayor of Olive Village.

“What do you say, Princess?” Ekambar asked. “Will you accept our assistance?”

“All of you want to help? Even you Mallards? Chaplain Creed? Tekno?”

“I can’t do any of the fighting, but I can fly and be an eye in the sky like Dad,” said seventeen-year-old Tekno the Canary, adopted daughter of Ekambar.

“I am the official fire warden,” Squeaker Mallard volunteered. “I can lead the volunteer fire brigade once the badniks have been stopped.”

“And I can be on the flying squad with the other flyers,” said Annabelle Mallard.

“Chaplain Creed? Are you going to fight?”

“I am a Man of God. It is my duty to fight for good.”

“That settles it then,” Sally said. “Yes. I accept your help.”

“What are your orders, Princess?” Ekambar bowed.

“AY! What is going on here?!”

Sally and the others spun around to see Doc Valencia standing in the doorway from the other room carrying a bag of instruments.

“Princess Sally! What is the meaning of this?” She demanded.

“Apologies, ma’am, it is my fault,” Ekambar bowed low. “I have brought these people here to strategize—”

“This is a hospital ward! Not a war room!” Doc Valencia cut him off.

“Sorry, we—” Sally began.

“The medic team is bringing the injured soldiers down from Oak village and I need space to care for them here. Unless you need medical attention, please leave and go strategize somewhere else.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Sally answered.

“Ah-ah! Not you. I’ve been told you have a head injury. I want to take a look at you.”

“Fine, but I need to—”

“Whatever you need to do, it can wait. If you have a concussion, you must not exert yourself more than necessary.”

“This _is_ necessary.”

“You may be the princess, but I am a doctor you are my patient and what I say goes. So sit down on that bed and do not move until I get back. Doctor’s orders.”

“With all due respect, _Doctor,_ badniks are rampaging the valley, the forest is on fire, and the villagers outside the city walls are in danger. I may be concussed, but I have a very good grasp on what is going on and what still needs to be done. The Hidden Kingdom is in crisis and these people have volunteered to help save lives but they need to be given direction from someone who knows the big picture. Father is busy defending the city gates and I’m the next best thing so I will be giving them orders.”

“Keep your voice down or you’ll distress the other patients!” She hissed. “Fine do what you need to do. I’ll overlook your sass because you are probably concussed, but I will be speaking to your father when this is all said and done.”

“Fair enough.”

“And whatever you do, all of you had better be gone by the time I return EXCEPT FOR SALLY who must STAY HERE.”

“Yes, ma’am,” several people chorused. Doctor Valencia stalked out.

“You aren’t planning on being here when she gets back do you?” Sonic asked grinning slyly.

“Definitely not.”

“Ohhhhh man,” Rotor said. “Doc Valencia’s going to kill you.”

“Not if my dad kills me first,” Sally groaned.

“Princess Sally, what are your orders?”

“I need the flyers minus Squeaker to patrol the skies searching for badniks and villagers in trouble. Screech if you see anything and help guide the fighters to the location.”

“Yes ma’am!” Ekambar bowed. “Elili, stay within the city.”

“Aww! Tekno gets to leave the city but I don’t? No fair!”

“You are much younger than your sister. Do what I say.”

“Yes, father.”

The birds began to file out o f the hospital and fly off.

“Mayor Ekambar, can you stay back for a minute after?”

“Of course, princess.”

“I need the predators, Sarai, Noah, and John to each go to one of the villages and use stealth to track down smallniks and if you can, destroy them.”

“As you wish,” Noah Dingo bowed. The three slipped out of the door and disappeared.

“Oy! You called them the predators, what’re you going to call us who’re left? The prey?” Maria Rabbit burst out.

“Mind your manners, lady,” Charles berated.

“Actually, I was going to call you ‘everyone else,’ but if you have a better suggestion, don’t waste our time explaining it. I need Charles and Trey to post yourselves at the beacons on either side of the city. If you see a smallnik enter the city, light it up. You might want to arm yourselves with a bow and arrows if you can scrounge some up.”

“As your highness wishes,” Trey bowed.

“Don’t call me that!” Sally snapped, then sighed and immediately apologized. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have taken that tone.”

“It is I who am sorry for offending you. We shall take our leave.” Trey and Charles stepped out into the night.

“What about us?” Maria asked.

“I need you and Squeaker to come up with a plan of attack for addressing the wildfire. Squeaker, you may want to take a little flight over the area and scout it out.”

“Consider it done!” Squeaker snapped to attention and saluted.

“Aww why do we get the easy job? I’m a fighter, ya know, had to fight my fair share of WOLF BADNIKS before I teleported here—HEY!! What’re you doing you mangy duck! LET ME GO!"

“Come on, mayor. Stop bothering the princess.” Squeaker dragged Maria out the door and it swung shut behind them.

“Raaahh! Sometimes I hate being a princess!” Sally pulled on her hair. “All of the politeness and formalities and everyone treating you special! Is it too much to ask to be normal equal person?”

“You alright, Sal?” Sonic asked. “You seem… irritated.”

“My head hurts,” she said pressing her hand to her forehead. “But I’ll live. The night’s not over yet.”

“There is still the thundernik,” Ekambar stated.

“Yes, and there’s only one person in the whole valley who can defeat it,” Sally said and looked at Sonic.

“Yes!”

“Go kill it.”

“Later!” Sonic was gone in a fraction of a second.

“You realize what you’re doing, right?” Sally asked Ekambar.

“What do you mean?”

“You are leading a group of civilians as combatants in battle against my father’s wishes. You are disregarding him and choosing me over him as a leader. That’s… basically mutiny.”

“I considered that and the consequences that my actions may bring, but as the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures. If I didn’t take this stand, soldiers and civilians might die while it is in my power to stop it. Besides, the King and militia leaders are busy, so I went to the next person in the chain of command, you!”

“Yeah… kinda wished you hadn’t, but, as you say, desperate times.”

“If that is all you have for me, I will head out and join my air forces.”

“You are good to go.”

“Thank you, and good luck, Princess!” Ekambar stepped out of the ward and launched into the sky.

“Thanks, I’m definitely gonna need it,” Sally rubbed her temples, her headache worsening. “Time for me to escape before doctor bossypants returns.”

***

Bunnie was definitely not asleep.

Sure, she’d been dozing lightly, but when Sally and Sonic had come in arguing, they’d woken her. Did she tell them she was awake? No. She had no interest in facing the reality of her body, let alone other people’s reactions. So she faked sleep and listened to their conversation with her eyes closed.

It occurred to Bunnie that Sally gave a lot of attention to Sonic. A lot more than she cared to admit. It was reasonable considering that they’d been dating for a few weeks, but still it bothered her. She couldn’t help but feel like she’d been replaced. Now that Sally had Sonic _(and Bunnie wasn’t really actually a hare anymore)_ she didn’t need Bunnie. Was that true? No. Bunnie knew it in her head, but she couldn’t help but feel it in her heart. _And why had Sally come to the hospital in the first place? To visit her (like she said) or visit with Sonic (like she did)?_

Bunnie listened as Sally paced as she talked. It just wasn’t fair. Sally (although concussed) still had a fully functioning body. She escaped relatively unscathed while Bunnie’s body was shattered. What was Sally doing still plotting and scheming with the others about the battle in front of her? Was she bragging? Was she trying to make Bunnie feel bad? Sally could still go out, move around, and make a difference while Bunnie was stuck immobile in a hospital bed.

This attack by robots probably didn’t mean anything in the long run. Nobody knew about the valley except the people who lived in it, so the badniks probably just found it on accident and carried out their standing orders to conquer anywhere Eggman’s rule wasn’t supreme. The militia would fight them off and everything would return to normal. Sally would go back to being a princess and Sonic an arrogant beach bum.

But not Bunnie.

Her life was upended. Everything she’d cared about a couple of hours ago—graduating the village school with honors, getting that internship with Trey the groomer, moving out of Rosie’s and into her own place… none of it mattered now. Now her life was going to be filled with worries about whether or not she’d be able to control her new metal limbs, whether she’d be able to take care of herself, if she’d ever walk again, how others would treat her, _and even freaking oil servicing._ It just wasn’t fair.

Sally got the best of everything. She was a princess, she had a living, loving dad, a perfectly healthy body, a bright future and even a boyfriend, while Bunnie had been bouncing from tragedy to tragedy throughout her life. The world was a cruel place for the unprivileged. So screw it. Screw the world. Screw Sally. Screw Sonic and Eggman and that optimistic Doc Valencia. And screw that little boy too, the one hiding in the storage room.

That’s right. She didn’t tell them. That little fox boy who was scared of her had snuck out of his assigned room upstairs and hid in the storage closet that had the light off and the door ajar next to the administrative office. She didn’t tell Sonic and Sally and he’d likely heard everything they said about the rest of the foxes. She didn’t then and there was no reason to now. The damage had already been done. What did it matter whether he found out now or later? What did it matter that he was orphaned _(so was Bunnie and she’d survived)?_ Another kid’s tragedy was hardly her problem when half her body had been stolen and replaced with cold unfeeling metal.

So the forest was on fire? Bunnie’s life was shattered, so who cared? Screw it. Let it burn. Let the entire valley burn to the ground taking every last soulless robotic monster with it. Not just the valley, the whole continent—no, the world—let the whole world be consumed with blazing raging wildfire until everything unjust, unfair, and wrong was scorched from the surface of the planet. If Bunnie was gonna go down, then the rest of the world should too.

Fury raged in Bunnie’s heart and mind. And it scared her. A terrifying thought struck her as Sally *finally* left the ward:

What if the robotics in her body had changed her mind? What if Bunnie was turning evil?


End file.
